fcibrarp of Che Cheolocjical Seminary PRINCETON * NEW JERSEY PRESENTED BY John Stuart Conning, D.D. BV 2063 . F6 1923 c.l j Fleming, Daniel Johnson, 1877-1969. Contacts with non-Christian _ nil t nrec: _ CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES A Case Book in the Christian Movement Abroad DANIEL JOHNSON FLEMING, Ph.D. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/COntaCtSWithnonc00flem_0 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES A Case Book in the Christian Movement Abroad BYv DANIEL JOHNSON FLEMING, Ph.D. AUTHOR OF “MARKS OF A WORLD CHRISTIAN,” “BUILDING WITH INDIA,” “SCHOOLS WITH A MESSAGE IN INDIA,” “DEVOLU¬ TION IN MISSION ADMINISTRATION,” ETC. NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES. II PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA INTRODUCTION One object of this book is to give an insight into cer¬ tain features of the missionary task which are not ordi¬ narily found in missionary literature. Even when the general reader does not care to grapple with the detailed solutions, it is hoped that the mere reading of these problem-situations will reveal anew how varied and diffi¬ cult are the issues which Christians abroad and their mis¬ sionary co-workers, must face, and what broadness of sympathy and delicacy of feeling they must bring to their task. The cases given are not hypothetical — they have all actually demanded the thought and judgment of mis¬ sionaries on the field. A second object is to show, through concrete illustra¬ tions of the tasks abroad, how such subjects as ethics and sociology, economics and education, history and law have their bearing on problems raised by the crossing of cultures and religions. After a perusal of these problem- situations, students contemplating foreign service may re¬ turn to their various class rooms with renewed interest, a more definite visualisation of the work ahead, and a truer appreciation of the kind of preparation or quality of personality needed. The main object, however, of this book is to develop appropriate sympathy, to organise thought with reference to the impact of Christianity upon other cultures than our own through a process of thinking, and to give practise in a general procedure 1 in meeting problems. This procedure, which should be taken up with each of l Cf. Dewey, John, “How to Think,” Chaps. VI, XV; “Democracy and Education,” Chap. XII. V INTRODUCTION these problem-situations, may be outlined as follows : a. The location and definition of a felt difficulty, b. The search for all needed data to make a correct solution possible — lessons of history, the stage of native experi¬ ence or opinion, the applications of the teachings of Jesus, necessary relevant facts in the situation itself, etc. Here a leader should not fail to bring out analogous situations in the West. Such parallels will not only help in solu¬ tions, but prevent our thinking of mission lands as over- pathological. c. The suggestion of solutions, inferences, conjectural meanings, or tentative explanations, which should be developed in an orderly way. d. The test of these ideas by application to discover their full meaning and validity. The questions at the end of each section are supplementary to this general procedure. Where the object is to stimulate a student to become an active rather than a passive participant in discussion, where the goal is not so much the acquisition of information as the de¬ velopment of capacity for interpreting information, and where it is desirable to call forth the power of distin¬ guishing and evaluating various elements in concrete sit¬ uations for the purpose of decision, the case method has a place, already well attested both in law and business. This method in mission study is urged, not as an exclu¬ sive, but as a supplementary method to those already in use. It can make valuable contributions to what may be called the missionary mind. Negatively, it cannot be too clearly asserted that the aim is not to provide the missionary recruit with a quiver of ready-made solutions. There is no wise escape from a period of humble apprenticeship abroad. In fact such a study as this ought to make one wary of detached gen¬ eralisations and vague abstractions. It is evident that conclusions would vary not only with different fields, but sometimes with different localities in the same field. Many procedures can be fitly criticised only in connec- vi INTRODUCTION tion with the full circumstances out of which they have arisen. Solutions to problems are not necessarily final and ultimate, for principles and methods are growing things, not lifeless entities. There are factors in some problems which cannot be appreciated by one whose experience has been only in the West. Moreover, no printed page can succeed in setting up the living situa¬ tion. All these considerations will lead the young stu¬ dent to suspend ultimate judgment. However, with such data and understanding as the reader may acquire con¬ cerning any given case, a tentative decision may be made, with a full realisation that this decision would very likely have to be changed in the face of a living situation. The author does not forget that increasingly the rising Churches on the mission field are assuming responsibility for many of the matters mentioned in this book.2 In fact in one or two of the most advanced fields native leaders would resent any paternalism on the part of a Westerner in such questions. Yet the missionary cannot afford to be ignorant or unprepared when advice is sought. It is advisable that the cases to be studied should be available for individual consideration and if possible for discussion in small groups before the class meeting. If this is not done much time is lost in getting the situation before the class, and superficial opinions find expression rather than reasoned judgments. Such slipshod work is apt to form a habit of careless decision. At a certain stage the method of arriving at a solution is more im¬ portant than the solution itself. To cover a few prob¬ lems thoroughly may be better than many superficially. The student, therefore, should be expected to study and analyse the problems in some small discussion group, 2 For example, a special committee on the Chinese Church, appointed by the China Continuation Committee and composed almost entirely of Chinese, has made two valuable reports on the relation of the Church to polygamy, ancestor worship and other social questions (Report of the China Continua¬ tion Committee, 1917, pp. 36-41; 1918, pp. 32-38). YU INTRODUCTION and then possibly to embody his conclusions in writing, before coming to the large group discussions. The cases here presented do not record, in every in¬ stance, ideal missionary action. This fact will necessitate the exercise of constant discrimination. In order to safe¬ guard the intellectual freedom and self-reliance of the student no attempt has been made to embarrass the dis¬ cussion with the writer’s judgment on the questions raised. Nor are all the cases complete. From a few, facts essential for a complete decision have been omitted. Here the student will have to make one or more hy¬ potheses, and judge on the basis of the case thus supple¬ mented. Moreover both relevant and irrelevant descrip¬ tive material will be found, thus affording practise in the selection of facts which should be determinative in mak¬ ing a judgment. In many instances there is no absolutely right or abso¬ lutely wrong answer. Many things in missionary practise are matters of judgment based in each case on individual expediency. It would be a mistake for a leader to insist pedantically that his solution is the right one. The opin¬ ions of each member of the class should be given consid¬ eration, and the reasons why one solution of a problem is better than another should be carefully weighed. Very likely no group will be able to discuss all the cases given. It is hoped that both leaders and groups will be able to exercise some latitude in the choice of both cases and questions under any given case to suit the tastes and capacities of the students concerned. Some may at first sight question the wisdom of bring¬ ing such problems as these before those who have not yet reached the field. But the writer has found that a journey of ten thousand miles does not in itself bestow skill and wisdom; nor does the young recruit find him¬ self surrounded with a well-worked-out series of rea¬ soned precedents which might be called the science of • • • Vlll INTRODUCTION missions. No one who reads these cases should relieve himself from the effort of hard thought, on the supposi¬ tion that difficulty in decision comes simply because he has never lived on a mission field. Actual residence abroad undoubtedly gives one an advantage in solving problems such as are raised here, but the advantage is not so great as many would imagine. Problems come to a missionary suddenly, or when he is alone in his station. More often the deeply bought experience of fellow missionaries in his and other fields has never been mobilised so that it is available to him. He has to rely on the capacity to think just as a person here must do. In the study of any given problem most students in the West will have ready access to possibilities of consultation which many an iso¬ lated missionary would covet — professors of Bible, ethics, history, economics, and sociology, who will be able to check or to supplement their judgments at various points. As will be seen, many of these situations simply present home problems in a sharper light. A wise and experi¬ enced missionary on furlough would bring to a group a sympathetic appreciation of local conditions and of the background from which problems emerge. The presence of such a one should greatly enhance the value of the discussion, and make possible more intelligent conclu¬ sions. These cases could never have been secured without the generous help of active missionaries — some interviewed during a trip around the world in 1919-20, others from among the large body of returned missionaries studying in New York each year, and still others who could be reached only by correspondence. I desire especially to acknowledge the interest and co-operation of the Student Volunteer Movement in the publication of these cases. So far as the writer knows this is the first attempt to organise a case book for mission study. He is aware of many gaps and imperfections. As an introductory ix INTRODUCTION book it is intentionally more discursive than would be a text for advanced study. But if this first approximation should vindicate the method, a systematic effort will be made to improve the choice and range of cases and the technique of their development for group discussion. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION . v USE AS A SOURCE BOOK . xiii I MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY ... 17 1. Survivals of Superstition Among Christians . . 18 2. Adaptation to the Superstitious Thought of Non- Christians . 24 3. Clash in Proprieties . 30 4. Hereditary Occupations More or Less Idolatrous 34 5. The Sublimation of Non-Christian Customs . . 40 II ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS . 46 1. Assisting Non-Christian Worship and Organisa¬ tion . 46 2. Support of Idolatry . 51 3. Adaptation to Non-Christian Religious Thought . 53 4. The Disposal of Old Objects of Worship . . 59 5. The Choice of Symbols for Christian Use . . 62 6. Concerning the Light Which Lighteth Every Man 65 III RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE .... 69 1. Strict Adherence to Known Health Standards . 69 2. The Acceptance of Lower Standards for Native Associates . 72 3. Drawing Racial Lines . 78 4. Westerners Under Native Control .... 81 5. Demanding One’s Rights and Appeal to Law . . 83 6. Securing Justice for Native Christians ... 87 7. Harbouring Refugees . 92 IV PROBLEMS IN ECONOMICS . 94 1. Salaries for Mission Assistants . 94 2. The Use of Funds from Non-Christian Sources . 95 3. Missionary Assistance to a Native Christian Enter¬ prise . 98 4. The Limitation of Economic Help to Christians . 99 5. Means of Securing Mission Property . . . 102 6. The Development of Self-support .... 106 xi CONTENTS PAGE V THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY . Ill 1. Western Wedding Ways Unacceptable . . . 112 2. Working Out a Christian Marriage Ceremony . 115 3. Supplanting Parental Authority . 119 4. Doubtful Social Customs . 122 5. Polygamous Husbands . 126 6. Wives of Polygamists . • 133 7. Christian Marriage for Those Previously Married Under Non-Christian Rites . 138 8. Mixed Marriages . 139 VI SUNDAY OBSERVANCE . 1. Observance of Sunday by Non-Christians 2. Observance of Sunday by Christians . 3. The Problem for Illiterate and Uncultured Chris¬ tians . 4. Games on Sunday . 5. The Time Limits for Sunday . 142 142 145 151 153 155 VII DECISION WITH REFERENCE TO BAPTISM 1. The Time and Conditions of Baptism 2. Harbouring and Assisting Runaways . 3. Baptism by a Woman Missionary 4. Purdah Women and the Sacraments . 157 157 162 167 168 VIII PROBLEM OF THE MISSIONARY HOME . 171 1. Standards of ^Esthetic Expression Advisable for a Missionary . 171 2. Idols as Ornaments . 176 3. Personal Adjustments . 177 4. Dishonesty in Servants . 180 5. Non-Christians Sharing in Family Prayers . . 181 6. Maintaining Spiritual Renewal . 182 INDEX . 187 xn USE AS A SOURCE BOOK I : FOR VARIOUS COUNTRIES In taking up the study of a certain country, possibly in connection with the current mission study text for a given year, it may prove desirable to have these cases available for discussion by countries : Africa, c, p. 19; Sec. 1, p. 94; e, p. 113; Sec. 3, p. 120; b, p. 123; g, p. 136; Sec. 7, p. 138; c, p. 140; e, p. 147. China, b, p. 18; g , p. 26; h, p. 28; i, p. 28; d, p. 31; f, p. 32; h, p. 32; i, p. 33; a, p. 34; b, p. 35; Sec. 5, p. 43; Sec. 2, p. 51; b, p. 52; e, p. 58; c, p. 64; a, p. 65; d, p. 66; e, p. 67; d, p. 70; b, p. 74; /, p. 75; b, p. 84; d, p. 85; Sec. 6, p. 87; a, p. 88; b, p. 88; c, p. 89; e, p. 91; Sec. 7, p. 92; Sec. 3, p. 98; a, p. 102; b, p. 103; c, p. 103; f, p. 108; a, p. 120; b, p. 123; 5, p. 132; d, p. 134; e, p. 134; f, p. 135; a, p. 139; b, p. 139; a, p. 142; d, p. 143; e, p. 144; Sec. 2, p. 145; a, p. 146; b, p. 147; c, p. 147; a, p. 152; b, p. 152; b, p. 153; Sec. 1, p. 172; Sec. 1, p. 173; Sec. 1, p. 174; Sec. 2, p. 176; b, p. 178; Sec. 5, p. 182. Egypt, b, p. 66; Sec. 5, p. 155. India, a, p. 18; e , p. 20; f, p. 21; a, p. 24; e, p. 26; f, p. 26; b, p. 31 ; e, p. 31 ; c, p. 36 ; e, p. 36 ; Sec. 5, p. 42 ; c, p. 47 ; d, p. 48 ; a, p. 54 ; e, p. 56 ; d, p. 58 ; c, p. 60 ; d, p. 60 ; e, p. 61 ; g, p. 62; c, p. 66 ; a, p. 69 ; a, p. 74 ; e, p. 75 ; a, p. 78 ; b, p. 79; Sec. 4, p. 81; a, p. 83; d, p. 90; a, p. 99; c, p. 100; c, p. 106; a, p. 112; d, p. 112; f, p. 114; Sec. 2, p. 115; Sec. 3, p. 120; b, p. 121; a, p. 122; b, p. 127; c, p. 128; 5, p. 132; b, p. 142; Sec. 2, p. 145; d, p. 147; b, p. 157; d, p. 158; e, p. 158; Sec. 2, p. 162; Sec. 3, p. 167; a, p. 168; Sec. 1, p. 172; Sec. 1, p. 173; Sec. 1, p. 174; Sec. 2, p. 177; Sec. 6, p. 183. Japan, Sec. 5, p. 41 ; a, p. 46; b, p. 63 ; j, p. 71 ; Sec. 4, p. 81 ; c, p. 84; Sec. 2, p. 95; d, p. 107; e, p. 107; h, p. 109; e, p. 144; f, p. 144; g, p. 149; c, p. 152; a, p. 153; a, p. 157. Korea, d, p. 20; d , p. 36; e, p. 70; a, p. 106; i, p. 109; d, p. 129; c, p. 143. • • • Xlll CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES Latin-America, f, p. 149; c, p. 153. Near East, c, p. 25 ; a, p. 30 ; b, p. 36 ; e, p. 49 ; b, p. 55 ; e, p. 85 ; e, p. 104; f, p. 104; b, p. 106; Sec. 5, p. 155. Philippines, d, p. 154. Siam, d, p. 25; a, p. 78; b, p. 123; Sec. 1, p. 174. II : FOR VARIOUS UNIVERSITY SUBJECTS It may seem desirable to bring some of these situations into the college class room for discussion. While recog¬ nising that any one case may be taken up from several angles (ethical, economic, sociological, etc.) and that therefore any classification is more or less arbitrary, yet an indication of major emphasis may be given in most cases. Economics. The following references may be given for this subject: Sec. 4, p. 34; Sec. 2, p. 51; Sec. 2, p. 72; Sec. 5, p. 82; Chapt. IV, pp. 94-110; Chapt. VI, pp. 142-156; Sec. 1, p. 171 ; Sec. 4, p. 180. Education, in the sense of modification of the bonds between situation and response, is involved wherever the question is raised as to the way of producing changes in character. In¬ terest in this modification of response recurs throughout the book (for example, in questions 3, p. 22; 4, 5, 6, p. 23; 9, p. 24; 3, 4, p. 30; 3, 4, 6, p. 34; 7, p. 40; 2, 5, p. 44; 7, p. 45) and need not be indicated in detail. Ethics. Practically every situation given in the book may be con¬ sidered from the standpoint of conscience, morals, or the de¬ termination of what is right. See, however, Sec. 5, p. 102. Law. See Sec. 5, p. 83 ; Sec. 6, p. 87 ; Sec. 7, p. 92. Medical. See b, p. 24; Sec. 1, p. 69; a, p. 74; b, c, p. 74; d, f, p. 75 ; a, p. 78 ; b, c, p. 79. Sociology. As dealing with the customs or mores of different peoples, most of the material of this book could be taken up under the head of sociology. In particular, attention may be directed to Chapters I and V. Study of Religions. Chapter II, and index under such topics as “Animism,” “Buddhism,” “Confucianism,” “Hinduism,” “Mu¬ hammadanism,” and “Taoism.” xiv CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES i CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES Chapter I MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of the attitude of both missionary and Christian converts to customs and beliefs of doubtful expediency. On the one hand is the charge against missions that their general effect is denationalising. The more educated and cul¬ tured classes in non-Christian communities have often bitterly resented what appears to them as disregard of native social customs and thoughts. Hence the Christian church dare not lightly ignore or denounce a given prac¬ tice. On the other hand, there is the danger that con¬ verts may bring over into Christian worship and thought pagan forms and spirit. Christianity’s purity and trans¬ forming power depend upon the elimination of all ele¬ ments which are out of harmony with the spirit of Christ. Constant discrimination, therefore, must be exercised to separate the good from the unwholesome in a people’s heritage. With reference to some practices, missionary attitude has changed from one generation to another. Even in any one period there may be differences of opinion with reference to certain doubtful customs or beliefs. Are the objectionable customs so manifestly part of the 17 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES old way of life that they cannot be kept without en¬ dangering the new? Or is a particular custom suffi¬ ciently free from viciousness to make careful discrimi¬ nation and tenderness of handling advisable? May a given superstition, although manifestly wrong in itself, be so interwoven with the whole structure of social life as to make a bald prohibition impossible? The young worker abroad does not always find agreement in answers to such questions and must think anew for himself. 1. SURVIVALS OF SUPERSTITION AMONG CHRISTIANS a. Auspicious days. Folks the world over have their lucky and unlucky days. New clothes must not be donned on Wednesday. To lend or borrow on Saturday is un¬ lucky. A missionary in India was asked by a native pastor to set a date for his son’s wedding. Knowing that many Christians were continuing to insist on astrologi- cally auspicious days, the missionary purposely found out the day most inauspicious according to non-Christian ideas and set that for the wedding. The pastor and his son acquiesced, but it was evident that they feared the consequences of this decision. The Hindu relatives would not come to the wedding. Around the whole ceremony and entertainment there was a forced atmosphere which was certainly not joyous. b. Lucky sites. There is in China a strange mixture of religion, magic, and attempts at science known as feng shui. It fixes the place where a grave is to be made ; it settles the direction toward which a cemetery gate should open ; it determines the placing of trees about a tomb. Scholar and official as well as humble peasant are swayed by considerations of feng shui. It is an ingrained impulse to desire that their dead should be buried in a lucky spot. It is the custom, therefore, to consult 18 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY necromancers to determine where the “wind and water” are favourable. A deacon of the Christian church in West China had to bury his daughter-in-law. She had not been a member of the church, but her husband was. The deacon’s wife was a stubborn Taoist, who had no sym¬ pathy with her husband’s affiliation with the Christian church. Knowing this, the members of the church were in¬ clined to believe the charge that the parents had consulted a necromancer for a lucky site for the grave, although it was to be located in the Christian cemetery. The deacon protested that there had been no such consultation, but the members voted that he should prove it by being will¬ ing to move the grave a yard or two to either side. The luck, thereby, would be ruined and all doubts dispelled. In spite of the fact that to move a grave is the very worst thing one could do to the dead in the eyes of the Chinese, the deacon had the transfer made. This cost him much loss of “face” and several scenes with his superstitious wife, not to mention the parents of the girl who were, like the mother-in-law, non-Christian and very superstitious. c. Grave salutes. A missionary in the Belgian Congo, on arriving at a certain local church, found that one of the deacons and some other members of the church had joined with non-Christian friends in firing off gun¬ powder over the graves of the dead. The people do this to frighten away the evil spirits. The missionary feared that if this custom were followed many other non-Chris¬ tian customs would gradually be adopted by the native Christians. On remonstrating with the Christians, they replied that they did not believe in the custom, but had complied with the request of their friends for two reasons. They wanted to remain in friendly relations with their non-Christian neighbours and did not believe they were violating any of the laws of God in doing what they 19 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES did. They said they also wanted to show respect to the dead, but that their customs of doing so were different from those of the white man. The deacon, waxing elo¬ quent, said if there was any place in the Scriptures that prohibited the firing of gunpowder over the graves of the dead to show it to him and he would cease from doing so. d. Mourning. In Korea it is a general custom for a son whose father has died to wear an enormous hat, about two feet in diameter and two feet high, made of split reeds. The wearer often has to steady it with his hands as he walks, and it is so large that in the crowded vehicles, it is hung on the outside. The hat is fashioned so that it comes down over his head. The ancient theory is that the father’s death was caused by some unfilial act or other sin of the son, and that hence the son is not worthy of looking at the heavens for a time. Koreans are insistent on the custom and may stone a funeral pro¬ cession where the custom is not observed. Some church officials may be induced to forbid it; but in general they take no notice if Christians adhere to this custom. The Christians have ceased to put up ancestral tablets, but this public practice remains. A missionary urging that the practice be given up, on utilitarian as well as on theoreti¬ cal grounds, was answered by a Korean leader who said that it was only a custom and that few people knew or cared what it originally signified. e. Using a husband's name. A widespread supersti¬ tion among Indian women makes them fear to mention their husband’s names. Sometimes this becomes evident in a Christian marriage, where the bride is supposed to repeat after the person officiating, “I, - , take - as my legal husband.” In consideration of this feeling should the form be changed to, “Do you take - to 20 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY be your legal husband?”, to which the mere answer, “Yes,” could be given? f. The chuttiya. Hindus have a custom of allowing a slender, sacred lock of hair at the crown of the head — the chuttiya — to remain uncut. In most parts of the country no orthodox Hindu could be found without this distinctive religious mark. Its origin is obscure. Most can give no reason for it. Only after many inquiries does one learn that it is a place for evil spirits to rest so they will not enter the head, or that it provides a handle for pulling a person out of hell. An ever-perplex¬ ing question among missionaries has been whether a man should be baptised who retains his chuttiya. Some missions make it an absolute rule to insist on the cutting of the chuttiya before baptism. They would say that Hinduism is made up of outward things ; if they are giving up Hinduism, let them give up this one of its out¬ ward marks. It is, some argue, at least a tie to the old idolatrous life, and therefore should be given up, even if not actually idolatrous or immoral itself. Some point to the bad results of the superficial Christianisation of the masses in Europe in the fourth and following cen¬ turies and say, “If you let enough chuttiyas in the church it won’t be Christian.” Other missionaries hold that it is only a social custom, a mere matter of style, and that most of the people could not give you any explanation of the practice. One mis¬ sionary in South India definitely preaches against cutting off the chuttiya at baptism, since the removal of the chuttiya helps to denationalise the convert in the eyes of other Indians. Another in direct disobedience to the ruling of his Presbytery baptised twenty converts with¬ out cutting their chuttiyas. Two hundred more at once presented themselves. With such a large Christian com- 21 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES munity it was easy for them later to adopt the Christian style, and few chuttiyas are now left. Picture now the problem which sent an able mission¬ ary to his knees in prayer for guidance three years ago. His mission had done work among the higher castes, and in a hundred years had had less than a hundred converts. He was one of the first in this mission to be assigned to work among the outcastes. At last to a marked extent he had won their confidence. Literally thousands were ready to be baptised. The one remaining obstacle was the chuttiya. The sentiment in his mission was overwhelm¬ ingly that the chuttiyas should be cut. He himself felt that seventy-five years hence the chuttiyas would very likely all be gone. It was not so clear that seventy-five years hence there would be a Christian community, unless a start was made in Christian life and education. As one of the younger members of this mission should he go against its tradition? The question that made him lie awake at night was as to what procedure would produce the best church seven or eight decades in the future. DISCUSSION 1. What similar survivals have we among western Christians (e.g., refusal to be married on the 13th, or on Friday) ? What should be our attitude toward such customs in the West? 2. What is the most valuable category to apply when judging a given foreign custom — the validity of its underlying roots or implications, its various consequences, its conformity to the pros¬ perity-policy of the local group, its conformity to Western mores, or something else? Test your answer by applying it to one of the cases given above. 3. There are various stages of ethical development which may be attained by a people. Will the means whereby sensitiveness of conscience may be best developed differ in the different stages? Or is there some absolute standard that should be urged at whatever stage a people may be? Choose one of the cases cited and sketch with reference to it the most educative plan you can frame. 22 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY 4. With reference to this whole realm of adjustment of standards, which of the following principles would you feel like adopting, and why? (a) In the infancy of the church, it may be right and necessary to lay down a strict rule and to require observance of it, until the outlook of the Christian community has been widened, its tone raised, and its conscience instructed so that the rule as a strict precept may be relaxed, and the decision left to the indi¬ vidual conscience, now purified and alive to the issues at stake. (b) Some things that are judged undesirable may be tolerated during the childhood of the church, while intelligence grows to clear conviction, and then with the support of the maturer judgment of the Christian community, a rule may be laid down which will be enforced by the hearty consent of the people, as embodying their own conception of the mind of Christ. 5. In determining procedure in doubtful cases care should be taken to awaken a spiritual conscience in the person concerned. It is also well to secure the enlightened sympathy of the mem¬ bers of the local church with a proposed practice. In any of the preceding cases was an opportunity for such higher education missed? Specify. 6. Protestantism of the West has sometimes been accused of being too negative. Certain it is that an increasing impatience is being manifested by the present generation toward mere nega¬ tions. Constructive suggestion should go along with destructive prohibition. For example, take case d above. After considering the ideal way for a Christian (not merely a Westerner) to act when a loved one dies, what would you advise as a substitute for the Korean custom? 7. Criticise the following principles adopted by various mis¬ sionaries, and illustrate, if possible, the application of any that are approved : (a) “I make my decision dependent upon what the candidate for baptism thinks about the questionable custom. If it is against his conscience, I make abstention a condition of baptism. If not, I expect it to be sloughed off later.” (b) “Most Chinese weddings that I have conducted have been on auspicious days. But since in any given case the matter is not brought directly to my attention, I have taken no notice of it.” (c) “My object is not to get a particular thing done right according to my ideas. It is to help people grow.” (d) “In a reformatory you must not see certain things. A 23 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES teacher cannot be a policeman. I try to overlook wisely and teach.” (e) “You may instil lying in a child by making too much of a slight falsehood. By reducing a particular act too boldly or quickly to a general sin you may only make a child feel that the big sin is easy. I apply this principle to doubtful customs.” 8. In which, if any, of these cases would it be wise for the missionary to refuse to be arbiter or judge, on the ground that the question concerned native custom and should be settled by the church courts of the people concerned? 9. “The essence of democracy is in carrying the people with you along such heights as they can really maintain when you are no longer there. Otherwise there is no democratic leadership but autocratic command.” 1 To which, if any, of these cases should such a principle be applied? 10. If the leaders of the native church reach a decision, should the missionary abide by it, even though he believes the decision to be wrong and has the power to insist on his opinion? To what extent is a fundamental issue in democratic procedure at stake here? How important is it for missionary and native Christians to think together in a democratic deliberative group? 2. ADAPTATION TO THE SUPERSTITIOUS THOUGHT OF NON-CHRISTIANS a. A superstitions oath. A famous missionary in Assam was made a magistrate. He soon found that there was little value in administering the Western oath — “I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and noth¬ ing but the truth.” He substituted one that would be more effective with the people — “If I do not tell the truth, may the tiger eat me, the serpent bite me, and may the witch devour me.” h. Explanation of disease. A disease prevalent in one district in India was traced by the missionary in that area to a polluted water supply. Knowing that the people readily attributed disease to the presence of evil spirits, 1 “Young Men of India,” Vol. 32, p. 547. 24 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY and realising that they would with difficulty understand the germ theory of disease, he told them that they should put their water on the fire before drinking it, so as to drive out the evil spirits. The people saw the reasonable¬ ness of this and were helped. c. The evil-eye. Many Oriental peoples have a great dread of the “evil-eye.” They will purposely incorporate some defect in a rug or piece of embroidery so as to render them imperfect and thus escape the evil-eye. Boys specially loved are often dressed as girls, or given girls’ names, as less liable to awaken jealousy. To give a direct compliment to a little baby may be a terrible breach of etiquette. In Syria one is expected to call upon the name of God before one admires a child or other animate or inanimate possession. One young missionary, just out from America, passed his cook’s boy in the compound, stroked his head in an affectionate way, and said some words of praise. The next day the child took smallpox, and it was years before that missionary lived down the effects of that innocent mistake. Certain older mission¬ aries, understanding the current etiquette, say knowingly to the mother of a pretty child, “Oh, what a poor, emaciated thing !” or “What a rascal he is !” Some mis¬ sionaries in Syria, when talking with a superstitious fellaheen or low-class working man always use at ap¬ propriate times the amulet-word “SM-Allah.” Others count on the respect which Orientals have for loyalty to one’s chosen religion and consistently refuse to adjust themselves to the people’s thought of the evil-eye. d. Charms. Medical missionaries must decide the ex¬ tent to which they will break over superstitious customs in the patients which come to their hospitals. Sick people in Siam usually have strings tied around their wrists by spirit doctors or Buddhist priests to protect them against 25 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES the power of demons. When they come to the mission hospital for treatment should the physician insist on the removal of these strings at once, perhaps making them suspicious and arousing their fear? Or should the physi¬ cian wait until he has gained the confidence of the patient in the hope that he could then show that the strings are unnecessary and that Christian healing does not depend upon such things? e. The banyan test. A member of one of Indian criminal tribes was suspected of stealing. When accused he utterly repudiated the deed. Knowing that these tribes have their own codes and oaths, the missionary asked the man whether he would take the banyan test (chopping a banyan tree with an axe asserting innocence). The man readily assented. But when the axe was lifted, his fear became too great. He told the missionary to send the spectators away and he would divulge where the stolen jewels were. f. Swearing on the Koran. A missionary was in charge of a college hostel in which eighty Muhammadan students lived. A theft had occurred and suspicion cen¬ tred on one man. He stoutly denied all knowledge of the affair. Knowing that Muhammadans hesitate to swear to an untruth over the Koran, the missionary finally pro¬ cured a copy and asked the student whether he would swear to his innocence on it. This he refused to do. g. Respect for the written character in China. Ac¬ cording to immemorial custom in Qiina, scraps of paper upon which the written or printed character is found, are respectfully collected and burnt. Even in modern times philanthropists have put up street boxes in Canton and Peking as receptacles for “paper with written character.” A missionary once was putting up a tract in a public place 26 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY when he accidentally tore it. He thoughtlessly crumpled it up and threw it on the ground, as we might do in the West. An old scholar who had been watching him said, “Why, the name of your God was upon that. I would not like to believe in your religion.” Newspapers and the coming of Western ways are changing this attitude toward the written character for some. This is bound to create a conflict in standards. Some missionaries believe that it is right to use every means to show respect for the written character in order to avoid showing disrespect. Others believe such a course is condescension and an encouragement of superstition. A missionary on special Red Cross work was associated with a number of hot-blooded, young, non-Christian Chinese who had modern ideas. They lost no opportunity of showing that they had no special respect for the printed page, and almost wantonly went out of their way to do what they knew would offend the feelings of the old scholar class. The missionary found himself wondering just what course he should take. At a certain school taught by a very progressive, suc¬ cessful Chinese Christian teacher, the children were al¬ lowed to throw on the floor scraps of paper upon which Chinese characters had been written. At a meeting of the church committee which dealt with school affairs some of the more conservative Christians condemned the new custom, saying that it offended their feelings, since on those scraps might be written the name of God or Christ. To trample such under foot would be sacrilege. The more radical element contended that to throw on the floor a portion of ink spread out on paper in the form of Chinese characters was no worse than to throw ink itself on the floor. Peacemakers tried to shift the matter, suggesting that the paper be burned as a measure of neatness and cleanliness. But the sides had already been too clearly formed on the issue of respect to the written 27 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES character for such a suggestion to avail. Finally an ap¬ peal was made to the missionary. h. Food offered to idols. At certain festival seasons in many parts of China practically all food cooked in the house is offered to the idols (either in the home or at the temples) and then eaten. For the most part Chris¬ tians refuse to partake. A Christian boy is to be tempo¬ rarily a guest in a non-Christian home and comes for advice as to what he should do.1 i. Funeral processions. The funeral of a departed relative is a very important occasion in China. The pro¬ cession through the streets of the city is considered very important, and all real friends of the departed or of his living relatives are expected to walk in it. In case of a wealthy family, this procession is very elaborate, some¬ times half a mile long, and is accompanied by Taoist priests and players who make a great noise with cymbals and drums. Firecrackers are let off at frequent intervals, cash paper is burned, and food offered to the departed. Every one on the street and in the shops and houses make room for the procession and respectfully watches it pass. A missionary had a friend, belonging to a wealthy and influential family. This friend was not a church member, yet was not an opponent of Christianity and was much interested in the church’s work. On several occasions he had come to church services. This man’s father died and the day for the funeral procession arrived. The funeral was to be conducted entirely according to the rites of the Taoist religion with many superstitious ele¬ ments. The missionary was invited to join in the pro¬ cession. Taking part in this important ceremony might l On this cf. Allen, Roland, “Missionary Methods, St. Paul’s or Ours,” pp. 153 ff. 28 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY win the unending friendship of the man with all the possi¬ bilities of such a friendship. One experienced missionary says : “On one such oc¬ casion I took part in such a procession. All the super¬ stitious elements were present. My friend, the eldest son of the deceased, was the chief mourner. On reflection, I think that I would not do so on another similar oc¬ casion. I believe that I can find other ways of expressing my friendship as by sending a scroll in honour of the deceased or by calling frequently on the bereaved family. I believe that we should avoid any participation in or even countenancing of superstition. It is possible to do more harm to the Chinese Christians through awakening questionings as to my motives in joining the procession than good from obtaining a more intimate contact with the non-Christian family.” Another missionary takes a different attitude : “The custom has a good element in it. The people in these ceremonies are cherishing the memory of their departed and are showing honour and respect for those who have passed away. This is a characteristic that should be encouraged, not denounced, as the Chinese would lose morally if the expression of respect were neglected. When we take part in the procession we merely show our respect and friendship for the family. Any Chinese in¬ telligent enough to criticise the foreigner for participating in such a procession would know enough to be assured that the foreigner had no idolatrous intent. Most of the people would not raise the question.” Still another missionary leaves such matters to the judgment of his educated, Christian Chinese colleagues. In the only case that has arisen for him, they advised him to join the procession. 29 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES DISCUSSION 1. What additional data would you want to know in any of these cases in order to decide what the right procedure should be? 2. Distinguish, if possible, any different levels of culpability or wisdom in the procedures here given. For example, compare a and f. 3. In judging what procedure we would adopt in each case, are we to seek an absolute rule or standard? Or should we be guided by the probable effect upon the individual with whom we are working? The effect upon the whole group of Chris¬ tians? Upon the non-Christians? What should be determina¬ tive? Test your judgment by applying it to several cases cited. 4. If it is a question between extracting an honest statement, or helping a group to overcome superstition, which would you choose to do? Consider in what way, if at all, your answer applies to a, e, and /. 5. To what extent in these questions would you be willing to yield to the judgment of educated, intelligent, Christian leaders of the land concerned (for example in case t) ? Of local church officers (as in 1, c ) ? 6. Make a start at forming a statement of the ideal purpose and principles of procedure that a missionary should have in dealing with the superstitious thought of non-Christians. 3. CLASH IN PROPRIETIES When the standards of propriety in a given land differ from those of the missionary, many troublesome ques¬ tions arise. Indeed one of the most perplexing types of problems that missionaries face arises from this conflict of new, Western customs with old and established ways of doing things. Shall missionaries stand for the new or the old ? a. Veiled faces. In a station in the interior of Turkey the missionary women always veiled their faces when going out on the street, because it was the custom of the women of that part of the country to go veiled. Younger 30 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY missionaries, arriving on the field, thought that it was a needless custom so far as Americans were concerned, and so went unveiled. b. Dress. “I have taken Gandhi off my prayer list because he made an address in a dhoti (loin cloth),” writes an American woman. The occasion followed the burning of the cotton bales in Calcutta, when people were claiming that India could not produce enough cloth. Mahatma Gandhi, assuring his audience that he was no better than an ordinary villager, threw off all superfluous garments. To an Indian the act was one of noble sim¬ plicity. c. Hospitality. It is the custom for missionaries living in large cities to extend hospitality to their fellow mis¬ sionaries from the country when they come to the city for shopping or for mission business. If the husband should be away on tour his wife must consider whether she can receive men guests, even a missionary and his wife, for this would cut right across conceptions of Oriental morality and might expose her to criticism. d. Touching hands. At a mixed family party where Chinese and missionaries were present a simple game was played where every one took hands for an instant. A young Chinese said long afterward that he had been quite disturbed over this, and that it had taken him months to get over believing that the foreigners were all indecent. e. Shaking hands. A young missionary wife, whose husband was in charge of the welfare work of a great factory, was visiting some Indian women in a section of the village under her husband’s care. Two American men, strangers to her, came to see the welfare work at 31 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES this centre. She stepped forward and shook hands with them. Later, when she went back to the women, she felt their coldness. For a long time they would not talk. She never felt more uncomfortable in her life. She had shocked them. She had touched her hand to those of strange men. Unaccustomed as they were to shaking hands at all, her act could have to them only a bad meaning. f. Co-worship. Down the centre of some of the Chris¬ tian churches in West China run partition screens. This is a concession to the local sense of impropriety aroused by the assembly of men and women in the same audience hall. The missionary with his wife and children have to decide whether they will follow this custom or sit to¬ gether after their prized tradition of a family pew. g. Courtship. Courtship between young missionaries on the field is sometimes so hedged about by fear of pos¬ sible scandal because of unfamiliar Western customs that the time has been looked back upon by some with horror. A teacher in a girls’ school accepted the social attention of having an escort to and from an evening party. The young missionary called for her and on their early return he was invited in to a chafing dish supper. This incident, following other “irregularities,” precipitated a contro¬ versy. h. Matrimony. Two missionaries in China, one a widower and one a widow, married. They knew that many in China consider it bad taste for a widow to re¬ marry. In spite of this they married. Furthermore, ac¬ cording to ancient Chinese customs a man does not walk out with his wife or manifest any familiarity with her in public. They, therefore, had to make the decision as to whether they would refrain from going out together into 32 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY the crowded streets of the Chinese city, or whether they would do just as they would in America and thus en¬ deavour to show the blessings of a Christian marriage where husband and wife are on an equality and can be good companions even in public. i. Relation of men and women. “The institution of sisterhoods planted alongside of male establishments, the spectacle of unmarried persons of both sexes residing and working together both in public and private, and of girls making long journeys into the interior without re¬ sponsible escort, are sources of misunderstanding at which the pure-minded may scoff, but which in many cases have more to do with anti-missionary feeling in China than any amount of national hostility or doctrinal antagonism.” 1 j. Modern Western styles. An outstanding Indian Christian in one of the large cities of India came to the leading missionary to make a courteous and unofficial but yet solemn protest in behalf of the Indian Christian com¬ munity. He said the exceedingly short skirts, transparent blouses, and decollete lingerie worn by the women in the mission community were distinct stumbling blocks to the Indian Christians. He besought his friend to influence the women of the mission seriously to consider Indian conceptions of decency. Any Western woman feels it a sacrifice to give up her freedom of dress. She likes to follow the prevailing modes, and to embody her ideas of beauty, comfort, and style. What should be done ? The immediate answer was : “I cannot answer to others, but I can assure you that from this day my wife will not offend.” l Quoted from Lord Curzon by Welsh, R. E., “The Challenge to Chris¬ tian Missions,” p. 30. 38 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES DISCUSSION 1. When Oriental students come to the West, should they conform to our customary proprieties? Does your answer help you to judge any of the cases given above? In what way? 2. What customs of his own group did Jesus break (Mk. 2: 1-28; 3: 1-12) ? When? Why? Would he have broken these standards in the same way, if he had come into the Jewish group as a foreign missionary? What makes you think so? 3. Should the change to the higher standards be insisted on at once, or could some such changes be easily left to the next generation? Illustrate. 4. What aggressive part should a missionary take in changing the mores of the group to which he goes? 5. “We must cultivate a very sensitive imagination. The imagination of others’ feelings is one of the rarest gifts, yet for want of it infinite harm has been done. We must learn in¬ stinctively to see every situation as other races see it; to know what they desire, to understand why they are repelled.” 1 Give illustrations of the practical application of these suggestions. 6. On what principle should a missionary decide how far to accept or how far to break the customary standards of a foreign land? Illustrate each alternative. 4. HEREDITARY OCCUPATIONS MORE OR LESS IDOLATROUS 2 a. Making idol paper . Outside Foochow is a com¬ munity of several thousand families whose sole occupa¬ tion is making “idol paper,” i.e., paper used in non- Christian worship. There is a difference of opinion as to whether the making of such paper is idolatrous or not. Some claim it is merely a means of livelihood; others, that there must be in it some religious significance for the worker. There are two Christian churches among these people, practically self-supporting, and hence more 1 “Christ and Human Need,” 1921, p‘. 113. 2 For further reading see Allen, Roland, “Missionary Methods — St. Paul’s or Ours,” pp. 157-9; and Gibson, J. Campbell, “Mission Problems and Mission Methods in South China,” p. 279. 34 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY or less independent of the missionary, although mission¬ aries or foreigners may be on their standing committees. In the past makers of idol paper in this community have been admitted to church membership. They were clearly not idolatrous in interest and were simply making their livelihood by making idol paper for others to use. Re¬ cently a man in this business applied to one of the churches for membership, and there was a division in the standing committee, both among Chinese and foreign members, as to whether he should be received. b. Incense making. Off in the mountains of North China, where wood is not as scarce as on the plains, is a village of incense makers. The entire industry of that village is the making of sticks of incense which are sold either for use in the worship of idols or for lighting tobacco pipes. From a neighbouring town they heard of Christianity, and soon thereafter they invited the mis¬ sionary to visit them and advise regarding organising a church there. When the missionary saw their zeal and keen interest he was naturally exercised over the problem presented : could they continue in their one source of livelihood and at the same time organise a church with the hope of growing in grace? Being essentially an in¬ dustrial community their fields and crops were limited, and they could not readily become farmers. It would take years to inaugurate a new form of industry, — if, in fact, any other could be found which would promise sufficient income for their support. The missionary, hurrying hither and yon in the evangelistic work of a tremendous field, could not undertake to introduce a new form of livelihood even if he knew what to propose. The question was whether he should refuse them the benefits of an organised Christian life, because the prod¬ uct of their village industry was for the most part used in non-Christian worship. 35 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES c. A band. The non-Christian Rajah of one of the native states in India has thirty-seven Christians in his state band. Part of their duty is to play at temples and Hindu ceremonies. The Roman Catholics in this area permit this. d. Fermented wheat. In the back districts of Korea wheat is easiest marketed after it has been mashed, partly fermented, and dried. There is a greater demand for wheat in this form of arrested fermentation and it brings about half more in price. Wheat so treated is used ex¬ clusively for making intoxicants. The Presbytery has ruled that a Christian must make the sacrifice in con¬ venience and money involved in marketing whole wheat. He is not forbidden, however, to sell it to a man who is certain to use it for making intoxicants. e. Drum beating. It has been very difficult for mis¬ sionaries in India to decide what attitude should be taken to certain hereditary occupations of converts from among the Mangs and similar castes, and the resulting practice has by no means been uniform. In accordance with the division of labour embodied in the caste system of India, it has been for centuries the village duty of the Mangs to act as watchmen, make ropes, slings, and brooms, give notice to the village of all government orders, and to be the village musicians. Since the drum is made of leather, and higher castes dare not touch this polluting substance, the Mang is essential for the drum beating in processions, marriages, and in the making of public proclamations. For these services the Mangs have a customary right to a share of the grain and other produce at harvest along with the other public servants of an Indian village. As village musicians, part of the Mang’s work is con¬ nected with Hindu worship. He may have to escort a worshipper to the temple and be present when the offer- 36 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY in g is made in fulfilment of some vow. - When a bride¬ groom goes to the temple of his village before going for his bride, and when both go to the temple of the village guardian god, a Mang has to accompany them beating the drum. Every temple procession must have a drum. Fur¬ thermore, there is a widespread custom in South India going back to antiquity when neither life nor property was safe and each village had a wall around it. At sun¬ set the gate was shut for protection; but before shutting it the Mangs beat their drums to warn the people in the fields to return to the village. The need for warning has ceased, but the custom of drum beating at sunset has con¬ tinued. Instead of doing it at the gate, they stand before the temple of the guardian idol of the village. When a non-Christian Mang renders this service he removes his shoes and makes obeisance, i.e., he worships. When Mangs become Christians, they naturally would like to give up all doubtful customs. But unless they render certain religious services essential to their Hindu co-villagers they are denied their share in the village produce. It is exceedingly hard for a Westerner to imagine how difficult it is for these people to change their hereditary place in the closely knit village economy. To give up this work may mean not only serious difficulty in gaining a livelihood, but actual persecution. At Ongole a Christian’s back was broken because he dissuaded his fellow Christians from drum beating. At Markapur six¬ teen Madiga Christians were imprisoned and most cruelly treated for refusing both to renew the leather on a large drum and to beat the smaller drums, giving as their reason, “We are now Christians and cannot have any¬ thing to do with idol worship.” But their Hindu masters did not regard it as a religious change. To them it was a labour strike, a species of rebellion against the village economy. Some missionaries, therefore, while decidedly prefer- 37 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES ring that the Christians do other work and get other pay, allow them to continue their customary village service. Such Christians affirm that they merely beat the drum as part of their village service, and that they do not in any sense worship while doing so. While standing before the idol, they do not remove their shoes nor bow to it. Hindus, as a rule, recognise that they are not worship¬ ping — unless the beating of the drum itself is considered worship. Those who permit this custom, however, hold that it is a secular act, like the ringing of a church bell. Or they believe that the Christian way of dealing with the matter is to leave it an open question which will solve itself in time. A Christian public opinion is slowly forming. The custom of payment in kind which has been universal in the villages is beginning to pass. Some, in order to preserve their own self-respect as well as the respect of others, are voluntarily giving up this work, where possible. The retention of drum beating and kin¬ dred services is thought by some to be a small thing com¬ pared with the great step of leaving idol worship for the worship of the true God, and they feel that we have no authority from the Master to say to any darkened, stumbling creature that he must reach a certain place of development before he can be received as a disciple of Christ. It is easy to be harsh in our judgments and forget that thousands in the West sit down at the table and yet do not do all to the honour and glory of God. Other missionaries hold that the beating of the drum is of necessity as much an act of worship as the obeisance to the idol, no matter what the beater’s mental state is. To do one without the other is not to refrain from wor¬ ship, but only to worship irreverently. To them it is sig¬ nificant that in a few villages Hindus have taken the right of drum beating away from Christians, since they want the act performed by one who acknowledges the idola¬ trous significance of it. The very persecution caused by 38 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY stopping this service often has had its good side. Whole regions have marvelled when humble Christians sang con¬ tinuously in prison, sustained by religious fervor touched with martyrdom. Those who oppose the continuance of this work point to the early Christians, who were cut off from a variety of lucrative employments by their new profession. They feel certain that the Christian con¬ science of the Indian church will in the future condemn these practices, but hold that it would be shameful and disastrous if those who are responsible for its teaching and guidance fail to condemn them now. To delay would make strong and definite action in the future all the harder. In their opinion no effort should be spared to convince Christians who continue such idolatrous con¬ nections, that their course of action involves disloyalty to Christ, whether they recognise it or not; that it stulti¬ fies their testimony against idolatry ; that compromise on such a subject undermines their own Christian character and weakens their power of resisting temptation ; that their example is a hindrance to many who might be en¬ couraged by them to leave all for Christ ; and above all, that the sacrifice is one which the love of Christ con¬ strains them to make. When all that has been done, if there be any who refuse to receive patient and affectionate teaching, certain missionaries hold that nothing remains to the church but to bring the persons concerned under discipline. They believe that the weak and ignorant must be dealt with patiently and tenderly; but nevertheless think it is a cruel kindness which condones sin. It is easy to see how missionary practice could be divided on this question. DISCUSSION 1. In the United States there are several Buddhist temples and Muhammadan mosques. What attitude should a Christian work- 39 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES man take when asked to work on one of these structures? Give any other Western analogies to these cases. 2. Are these cases on a dead level of objectionableness? If not, what distinctions do you discern? 3. Try to state what, if anything, is wrong in each case, and why it is wrong. 4. Experience of the ages shows that loss of livelihood or persecution, if it be a matter of conscience, will work to the upbuilding of the church. To what extent has this truth a place in the argument? 5. To what extent should a community of Christians be able to see that their economic life is a contribution to the growth of the Kingdom? How generally, in any country, is this idea ex¬ plicit in the attitude of Christians? Should it be? 6. What human activities in the West, if any, are free from being implicated in supporting the present defective and what many feel is an unjust social system? Does the consideration of this question tend to make you more lenient in your judg¬ ment of these cases from abroad ; or does your decision with reference to them tend to make you raise your standard for a Christian in the West? 7. In the light of these cases, judge discriminatingly the value of the following principle : “The development of the good among all non-Christian races should long precede the active elimina¬ tion of the bad. Missionaries should commend early and con¬ demn late, praise and encourage generously, antagonise spar¬ ingly.” 1 8. Pick out the one or two cases which seem to you most important and indicate what position you would take on each. On what general grounds? What possible constructive measures could you suggest, in order that your advice might not be merely negative ? 5- THE SUBLIMATION OF NON-CHRISTIAN CUSTOMS One way of dealing with a non-Christian custom is to sublimate it, or transmute it into a Christian practice. Many social traditions, which are the product of non- Christian conceptions of life, may be thus gradually trans¬ formed. Western Christianity has in this way taken over 1 Journal of Race Development, Vol. 1, p. 144. 40 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY and rebaptised many a custom once called heathen, such as Sunday, the Christmas tree, the use of candles, certain aspects of Easter, etc. Every medium through which Christianity has come to us (Jewish, Greek, Roman, early European) has left its deposit of Christianised custom. Among the peoples to whom Christianity is now being mediated there are ceremonies and festivals to which minds and hearts are devotedly attached. Some of these should be transformed so that they may continue as part of the Christian tradition. Caution, however, is needed ; for there is danger in continuing customs which, however innocent in themselves, carry with them associations which are misleading ; in obscuring the line between Christianity and the old religion ; in the difficulty of read¬ ing new meanings into old forms ; and in the misunder¬ standing to which it subjects the practice of Christians. The task is one that requires the ripest experience and wisdom of the ablest Christians in a given land. In Japan a little boy at the age of five puts on his first hakama, and a little girl at the age of seven wears her first sash, obitoki. The time when a boy dresses like his father and the girl like her mother is a great occasion in a child’s life. One Japanese pastor uses this time as an occasion to urge the Christian parents to start their children in Sunday School. In his congregation the hakama and obitoki are first worn in the church. Mother-hearts the world over crave an opportunity to receive the blessing of religion on their young children. In Japan this feeling finds expression in the miyamairi or shrine-going. At this time the mother dresses her child up in its best and goes to the shrine. In the pres¬ ence of the priest she has the kagura (religious dancing) performed in order to receive the blessings of the gods on the young child. This is followed by a visit to inti¬ mate friends of the family, who join in the celebration. A Japanese pastor has suggested that this custom could 41 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES easily be Christianised by connecting it with the christen¬ ing ceremony or dedicatory service. One great occasion in the life of a young Samurai used to be at fifteen, at the gempuku, when a boy wore for the first time two swords. Realising that our spiritual warfare demands good soldiers, how might the old custom be sublimated and used?1 Suppose yourself in India. Consider what you would do if you found that women in your district were in the habit of taking their clothes to the temple to have them blessed before wearing. Would you be inclined to adopt the custom in your church? If you saw that the farmers about you called in a priest and offered up a fowl in order to secure a blessing upon the sowing, would you encourage the Indian Church to announce at certain seasons that any who would be planting the coming week might stay and have special prayer offered for them? Both these things have been done by the only Indian Bishop yet appointed. Knowing that the universal custom in India is to have a “go-between” to arrange for marriage, inasmuch as the boy and girl do not see each other until the marriage day, would you encourage Christians to use the old non- Christian agents or adopt our Western plan of courtship or have deaconesses formally appointed to take over this function, or would you just let things drift? Do you see any possibilities in the fact that when a Muhammadan baby is born the mother will not feed it until some Muhammadan man has said the Kalima (creed of Islam) in its ear? The first words it hears must be the most sacred ones of Islam. Suppose you observe that in non-Christian marriages the bride and groom walk around a bamboo pole at a certain stage of the ceremony. Will the substitution of a cross for the bamboo be a proper step in adaptation, or 1 Cf. “Japan Evangelist,” Vol. 23, pp. 246-9. 42 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY will this only stereotype the lower associations of the former system and tighten the chain of superstition? One of the most picturesque festivals in India is Devali, when tiny lights are used to outline public buildings and often the homes of people. The children love the attrac¬ tive display of these little Oriental lamps with their wicks of cotton in cocoanut oil. Would you preach on Christ as the light of the world, ask them to “let their light so shine,” interpret the festival as a triumph of light over darkness, and thus take it over into Christianity? Or would you shun its very touch and keep the children from the charm, knowing that unbridled gambling is associated with this night, and that it really betokens Vishnu’s tri¬ umph over demons? The Chinese have a custom of holding a memorial feast and worship for the dead every seventh day for seven times after the death of a parent or grandparent. Re¬ cently an old man died, he and his family being the only Christians in his village. He was buried with a Christian service. The neighbours clamoured bitterly that he was not shown proper filial respect, and hence feared that his spirit would trouble the whole village. The son there¬ fore decided to have a Christian religious meeting in his house every seventh day for seven weeks, singing hymns, reading Scripture, and having prayer. Some non-Chris¬ tians attended these services and in many cases expressed themselves as believing the Christian funeral rites were just as good as their own. What can be said for and against this concession to non-Christian neighbours? Years ago, before he had heard the Gospel, a man engaged his baby son to a baby daughter of another family. This girl died, and afterwards another engage¬ ment was arranged. The groom’s family became Chris¬ tians, and when he was married a year ago the ceremony was performed by the Christian missionary. To their surprise the bride refused to eat, talk, or work while in 43 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES her new home. After considerable searching the reason was discovered. She was sure the evil spirit of the little dead betrothed girl was troubling her, as no “spirit wed¬ ding” ceremony had been performed for the first fiancee before the second one had been taken into the home. Although treated most kindly by her husband and family, given a chance to attend school, and urged by her own parents to be a good daughter-in-law, she committed suicide. Should the groom’s family, although Christian, have consented to the above “spirit wedding” to calm the bride? What other possibility would there have been? DISCUSSION 1. What things other than those mentioned in the first para¬ graph of this section have been taken over from non-Christian religions into Christian practice? 2. What place should the foreigner take in the sublimation process that is going on, or could go on in these days on the mission field? 3. “It is characteristic of institutions (1) that they embody sentiments, ideas, interests, in a structure or formal organisa¬ tion of some kind, and (2) that they are handed down from one generation to another. In the process of transmission the senti¬ ments and ideas change but the structure remains, or changes less rapidly.” 1 What bearing, if any, has this statement on the wisdom of attempting to put new content into old forms? 4. Is it better for a “great gulf” to be fixed outwardly be¬ tween Christianity and non-Christian religions ; or is it better for the difference to be principally inward and moral? 5. A contaminating aura may cling around a custom for years after it has been practised in a changed form by Christians. Especially is this true when non-Christians continue the practice side by side in its old form. What reasons, then, can there be for any one’s trying to sublimate old customs, rather than intro¬ ducing wholly new ways? What dangers surround the process? 6. Suggest some principle that would help to guide one who was trying to decide whether or not to attempt the sublimation of any given non-Christian custom? 1 Park, R. E., “The Principles of Human Behavior,” p. 45. 44 MATTERS OF DOUBTFUL EXPEDIENCY 7. After considering the problems raised in this chapter, which of the following alternatives would you prefer, if each were possible — to develop in a given people a new idea, leaving it to take form as it would; or to establish your standard of institutions, forms, and social structure before having changed the ideas back of them? In other words, to a missionary should ideas or structure seem more important? 4 5 Chapter II ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS 1. ASSISTING NON-CHRISTIAN WORSHIP AND ORGANISATION a. Permitting idols in servants' quarters. A mis¬ sionary in Japan employs a Japanese as cook. The cook lives with his wife, parents and children in a Japanese building at the rear on mission property — the part known as the “servants’ quarters.” Being a Buddhist, the cook proposes to follow the customs of his cult by erecting a miniature shrine before which he can pray and burn incense. He also wants to put up a little “god-shelf” in his living room on which he can place certain religious emblems and at which he can burn incense. This would enable him and his family to express their religious nature in the way which they consider true and proper. The shrine, while inconspicuous and quite unobjection¬ able from any other standpoint than the religious, can yet be seen by the chance passer-by; the idol-shelf can, of course, be seen only by one who enters the servant’s house. Both are on the property of a society intent on leading men out of idolatry to something better. b. Moslem students and Friday worship. Islam’s weekly day of worship comes on Friday. Moslem stu¬ dents at the American University of Beirut have no objec¬ tion to attending classes on Friday, but many of them desire to attend the noon prayers in the mosque. If the young Moslem students are allowed to leave the campus 46 ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS and go to the great mosque in the city they will miss cer¬ tain classes, possibly indulge in smoking and drinking, and may get into very disreputable company. It is diffi¬ cult to have a teacher accompany them, for the teachers are Christians and would not be welcome at the mosque. Older Moslem students can be placed in charge to some extent, but the system tends to break down when you have a large group of boys quite unknown by face or name to the older students. The privilege of attending the mosque cannot well be based on a scholarship or character test for the obvious reason that religious fer¬ vour is not necessarily related to either. A simple solution would be to have a Moslem sheikh come to the University and hold services there for the students. Would you regard this as permissible in a Christian institution? The situation could be placed be¬ fore the parents. Ought you to release the students if the parents desired it? Or should the students be re¬ quired to attend a small mosque just outside the college walls, ascertaining the exact time for prayers and issuing passes to those students who desire to go, thus reducing the loss of time and danger of bad influence to a min¬ imum? c. Giving a place in the schedule to the teaching of non-Christian religions. In a mission college in the Pun¬ jab a half hour each day is devoted to religious instruc¬ tion. Hindus, Muhammadans, and Sikhs attend these classes in Christianity. After several years of such in¬ struction one not infrequently finds that they are uncon¬ sciously acquiring Christian attitudes in various matters, and more or less sincerely assuming that their own re¬ ligion has much the same accepted teaching. Under such circumstances a missionary professor sometimes wishes that voluntary classes in Hinduism or Muhammadanism could be started, so that the students might not be igno- 47 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES rant of their own religions, and thus would be better able to appreciate the superior teachings of Christianity. At one time in St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, under the Cambridge Mission, where the great majority of the students were Hindus and Muhammadans, a place was given in their college lecture series to exponents of non-Christian religions. Here the motive was fairness — that both sides might have a hearing. At Trinity College, Kandy, where half of the students are Christian, where they are in a strong Buddhist en¬ vironment, Buddhism is taught by an acknowledged leader in this faith. The principal has a conviction that the underlying thought of the old faiths should be taught from a sympathetic and fully appreciative standpoint. He feels that it is important, especially for Christians, that they should know the old faiths at their best. Their Christianity should develop alongside the thought of their own country. Sooner or later they are sure to meet the objections to Christianity which are common among the priests of non-Christian faiths. Should these objections not arise in their midst whilst they are still in a Christian environment, they are sure, he feels, to do so after they are alone and out of reach of those who might help them. He believes, moreover, that it brings them into touch with the thought-habits of their own people. Such a plan is very rare on the mission field. d. Assisting a bitter religions antagonist. About fif¬ teen years ago, out of the score of arts colleges in the Punjab, the mission college at Lahore was the only one that provided a common room or social centre for the students. In the other colleges practically no provision was made for social life. They had not thought of putting a game room or reading room in the hostels or residence halls. Eventually the authorities of the college under the management of the Arya Samaj, the 48 ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS most persistent and bitter opponent of Christianity in North India, sent representatives to the mission college to look over their system of common rooms for social and recreational purposes, and to get a copy of their constitution and working plans. To aid them to -duplicate this feature would reduce by so much the difference be¬ tween the two colleges, and might to that extent lessen the prestige of the mission college. Should the authori¬ ties of the mission college share to the maximum or the minimum ? e. Sharing your best for non-Christian leadership. During the war the Turkish Viceroy of Syria sent Jamil Bey, whom he had recently appointed Director of the newly established Saladin University in Jerusalem, to visit the American University at Beirut. He was to stay for six weeks, live among the teachers and students, study their methods, and if possible discover the secret of the success their graduates had obtained. Jamil Bey frankly acknowledged, “We need your help all along the line, but especially in the training of our Moslem religious leaders. We are groping in the dark and we need a helping hand.” Principal Bliss welcomed him and tried in every way to help him. “We are here,” he said, “not as rivals ; we are here to share with the people of the East the best things we have in the West, or rather to exchange the best things that East and West have received. For the whole world needs the whole world.” 1 f. Acknozdedging the good in Muhammadanism. The American University, at Beirut, missionary and Christian as it is, — joins every year with its Moslem, Druze, and Bahai students in their religious celebration of Muham¬ mad’s birthday. White-turbaned sheiks are scattered through the audience, made up of a throng of reverent l Cf. The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 125, p. 664. 49 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES students. There is the low chanting of the Koran and serious, restrained orations. “In the closing address, given by a responsible officer of the College, the speaker makes it clear that, as a representative of the Christian religion, he is glad to have a sympathetic share in all efforts to strengthen the forces of righteousness in the world. Praising the splendid de¬ mocracy that obtained in early times among Moslems themselves, — no rights withheld because of colour, pov¬ erty, or social status — and commending Omar’s massive declaration upon becoming Caliph : ‘By God, he that is weakest among you shall be in my sight the strongest, until I have vindicated for him his rights : but him that is strongest will I treat as the weakest, until he complies with the laws,’ he pleads that this spirit should not only be maintained among Moslems to-day, but extended by them so as to embrace all mankind. He bids them re¬ tain the sense of the nearness of God, asserted in the Koran’s memorable line, ‘God is closer to you than the great artery of your neck.’ He urges that they should remain true to their Book’s injunction as to intoxicating liquors, at just this epoch when Western peoples are grappling with the evils of alcoholism. Characterising as a stroke of genius the Moslem custom of calling men to prayer through the matchless human voice, rather than by means of bells, beautiful as these are, he begs all the students, Christian as well as Moslem, to turn their thoughts Godward at the summons of the muezzin. And, finally, he pleads for an ever deeper, richer interpretation of the word Islam, until everywhere it shall connote an active, personal, intelligent submission to the Will of God in body, mind, and spirit, and thus stand for a true and a sound conversion.” 1 DISCUSSION 1. What analogous situations c-ould conceivably confront us in the West? l Bliss, Howard S., “The Modern Missionary,” p. 11. 50 ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS 2. What can be said for and against the permission of non- Christian worship and instruction on mission property (cases a, b, and c ) ? In what way, if at all, does this question differ in principle from the question as to whether non-Christians, who have rented mission property, should be allowed to keep their shops open on Sunday (see page 143, d ) ? 3. If you as a missionary were conducting an open forum on religion in Tokyo, or Peking, or Calcutta, would you have only Christian speakers to give the main addresses, bending every energy to have perfectly fair and impartial opportunities for any to speak from the floor? Or would you give non-Christians, also, an opportunity to state their position in main addresses from the platform? Why? 4. What would be your attitude towards a mother teaching her little child puja (Hindu worship) ? Horror, pity, sorrow, or reverent sympathy for one who is teaching her child the best she knows? 5. Under what circumstances, if at all, would you assist non- Christians to purify and to build up their own religions. 6. Try to discover what decision should have been made in each of these situations and state as clearly as possible the grounds upon which you make your decision. 2. SUPPORT OF IDOLATRY According to the treaty of the Powers with China in 1900, Christians cannot be compelled to pay fees to idol¬ atrous societies nor taxes for non-Christian worship in villages. But most villages keep no separate accounts and make no separate levies for this purpose. In some villages, the expenses of this sort are very heavy; in others, they are practically nothing. Many Chinese Christians are paying dues which are used in part for idolatrous worship and upkeep of tem¬ ples. If they don’t, they say that the people will shut off their water, let pigs overrun their fields, or refuse them the protection of the village constables. If you push them to cease contributing to idolatry, they may consent on condition that you agree to back up their claim for treaty rights. The foreign consul, however, is 51 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES very likely tired of such cases, and you know that it will take much of your time. a. Village levy for idolatry. Mission A has adopted a rule that where the tax for religious purposes is not levied separately, “their Christians” are to pay only sixty per cent of the tax levy. This frequently works hard¬ ship in the villages, since idolatrous expenditures may not amount to forty per cent, and bitterness is aroused. Mission B has been in the habit of settling each case on its own merits, in most cases with a much smaller discount than forty per cent. But some of the Christians connected with this mission feel that it is not looking after their interests as well as the other mission looks after those of its Christians. Furthermore, many of the Christians who are exempted from payment of the idol¬ atrous taxes in the village do not contribute nearly so much to the church as they save on exemption from their taxes. b. Fees to a pork guild. A pork butcher in a certain Chinese city, being a Christian, refused to pay his fees to the pork guild. The non-payment of fees, however, gave the Christian butcher an advantage over other butchers, as he was able to sell his meat so much cheaper. This brought forth a storm of protest from the guild. All that the treaty meant to them was that the Powers had compelled the Chinese to give special advantages to Christians. The matter was brought finally to the attention of the Chinese pastor and of the station missionary. They thought it might be possible for the Christian butcher to contribute his fees to those objects in the guild which were not idolatrous-. But a long and pains¬ taking study of the guild revealed the fact that the fees were used entirely for paying for masses for the souls 52 ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS of the dead or for buying property for the temple with which the guild was connected. The Roman Catholics in some instances of this kind have the fees paid to the church. The butcher was willing to do this, but the pastor and missionary did not think this was consistent with that Christian spirit of giving which they wanted to inculcate. The final result was that the butcher kept his fees, and his advantage under the 1900 treaty. DISCUSSION 1. State the common issue involved in these incidents in its sim¬ plest, most general form. 2. What would be your judgment of the wisdom of meeting these situations by saying, “Christians are inextricably mixed up with non-Christians. I would wink at a great many such things in the Christian community and expect time to clear them up. One must remember the great final goal — what will do the most good in the end.” 3. What are the relative advantages of the practices of Mis¬ sion A and of Mission B ? 4. What do you think of a suggestion made by some that Christians be required to contribute to the church the equivalent of their previous tax for idol worship? What is the most vital question you can ask in this connection? 5. With reference to situation b do you regard the solution as satisfactory? Why? Trace its probable effect on spiritual growth. In what constructive ways might the fees be used? What advantage would there be in this? 6. In one Chinese city, the Christians established good rela¬ tions and the reputation for community spirit by offering to pay double the temple assessment to the funds for repairing bridges, roads, and the city wall. If you approve of this action try to draft a general principle embodying the wisdom of this specific instance. 3. ADAPTATION TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS THOUGHT When we remember how arduous is the process of harmonising the expression of Christianity with the 53 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES changing thought-forms of our own civilisation, we can appreciate something of what is involved in adjusting it to an entirely different order of ideas. It is by no means easy to distinguish between what is of the essence, and what is merely due to our modes of thinking. Not infrequently the situation demands that we sacrifice names and forms that have become dear by long associa¬ tion, in order that the Gospel may be expressed in ways congenial to the people with whom we are working. A broad-minded missionary will want to show a true and justifiable catholicity in the presence of a non-Christian faith, and yet he must ever consider what the reaction of his conduct may be on others. To decide what comes under a wise catholicity and to weigh the effect of one’s actions on others are not always easy. Consider the fol¬ lowing concrete cases : a. Prayer in a mosque. The Jumma Musjid (Great Mosque) at Delhi is a beautiful and inspiring specimen of religious architecture. Three monumental stairways, each of forty great stone steps, lead up through imposing gateways to the great court where ten thousand of the faithful can bathe in its fountains and kneel together before domes and minarets of marble, porphery and onyx. A missionary, who frequently visited Delhi, went each time that it was convenient for him to this mosque. There, surrounded by its majesty and beauty, he engaged in prayer much as one in New York might go out of his way to get the ennobling inspiration for prayer in the Roman Catholic Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. The mis¬ sionary chose a retired corner of the mosque and did not assume a posture that would make manifest his pur¬ pose.1 l A missionary from China writes, “I do not see how one could stand on the central altar of the Temple of Heaven in Peking without prayer.” 54 ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS b. Visits to tombs of Moslem saints. A noted western scholar, an authority on Islam, visited the Near East for the purpose of first-hand study of the people and their religion. Though a devout man and earnest Christian, he went among them as a student of Arabic and of Islam, not as a missionary. Before going to the East, he had studied the lives and ideas of the more important saints of Islam, had read their books, and had come to respect and esteem a great many of them in a very high degree. When he found himself on Moslem soil, he naturally de¬ sired to visit the tombs of the saints whom he respected and reverenced. The prevailing usage, however, in visit¬ ing the tombs of Moslem saints is to advance to the rail that surrounds the tomb, hold the rail in your right hand, and recite the “Fatiha” — the first chapter of the Koran — which holds much the place with the Moslem that the Lord’s Prayer does with Christians. This Christian scholar conformed to this usage, visited the tombs frankly in reverence, behaving like a religious- minded and gentlemanly person. He himself was bene¬ fited by feeling the nearness of the spiritual kindred of all that call upon the Lord, and he felt assured that those Moslems who saw him do it felt that here was a spiritual unity — that this man, Christian though he might be, rev¬ erenced their saint and knew what it meant to recognise holiness and the life hid in God. There are, of course, many saints in the Moslem cal¬ endar, whose tombs he could by no means visit with rev¬ erence, but there are many others, according to this au¬ thority, whose tombs could be visited by the most careful Christian with the feeling that he was honouring good men. Furthermore, he was convinced after experience that his conformity to custom suggested nothing to the Moslems who were with him except simple unity and charity. He acknowledged that some, more especially among the ignorant, might have thought he was inclined 55 A CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES to Islam. For example, his guide, on being abused at one tomb for permitting him to enter the sacred precinct, said, “He loveth our people, and the Lord may open his heart to Islam.” 1 c. Using the name of Christ in prayer with non- Christians. Many thoughtful missionaries, especially who are engaged in educational work among non-Chris¬ tians in India, have had to face the problem as to whether they should use the name of Christ in leading prayers for those who have not yet accepted Christianity. Indi¬ vidual missionaries have decided the question one way or the other, and so far as the writer knows there has been no general or official pronouncement on the matter. Perhaps the majority of missionaries, either from rea¬ soned conviction or from unconscious habit, end their prayers before non-Christians with the phrase, “for Christ’s sake.” The issue was clearly drawn in 1921 in connection with the London Missionary Society’s work in Bangalore. Their High School, with an enrolment of 600, has one Muhammadan and six Hindu students to each Christian pupil. The principal, profoundly believing in the impor¬ tance of worship, nevertheless felt that for most of his non-Christian pupils prayers in the name of Christ would be unreal and ineffective. He therefore drew up and published a book of prayers suffused with Christian spirit and content, but in which no specific mention was made of Christ. This was brought to the attention of the London Mis¬ sionary Society, and the matter aroused considerable dis¬ cussion extending over many months.2 A small minority urged that in view of the declared aim of the Society to proclaim the name of Christ they should not sanction the 1 Macdonald, D. B., “Aspects of Islam,” pp. 24-30. 2 See The Christian World , July 7, Dec. 22, 1921; Jan. 5, 12, 19, 1922. 56 ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS exclusion of His name from the daily worship in the schools of the Society. They feared that the Bangalore plan might encourage a false religiosity in the Hindus and Muhammadans and make it impossible to teach them that no man cometh unto the Father save through Him who is the way. While still insisting that the daily Bible teaching should be imperative for non-Christian pupils, they were willing for the opening worship to be volun¬ tary. The majority realised that such action would prac¬ tically cause failure of any attempt to teach spiritual wor¬ ship to Hindus and Muhammadans. In these schools and colleges Indian missionaries are dealing, not with a paganism whose absurdity is more than self-suspected by the people, but with strong and aggressive religions. In these days when Indian nationalism has made them super¬ sensitive to everything that can be interpreted as de¬ nationalising no one of them would voluntarily pray in the name of Christ. In further support of the Bangalore plan it was urged that the use of the name of Christ by those who have not yet accepted him as Lord might lead to insincerity; that it might extend the tendency already seen in India to make Jesus Christ just another in the list of gods in the Indian pantheon; that to teach boys to worship God, the Father, is one of the best ways to bring them to understand the message of Jesus Christ, His Son: and that in just such prayers as those used at Bangalore Christ is, as a matter of fact, casting out the old gods. In their final decision the London Missionary Society gave liberty of method in evangelism to their Bangalore missionaries, but expressed their opinion that books of prayers for non-Christians should have in them a section containing prayers specially intended for the use of Chris¬ tian students, and of students approaching the Christian position. This would show the distinctively Christian 57 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES character of the Society whose missionaries were respon¬ sible for publishing such books. d. Community prayers in a non-Christian city. On the occasion of the death of King Edward VII the citi¬ zens of Lahore, India, arranged for a public meeting for mourning which was to be closed with prayer. Though the Committee in charge was made up almost wholly of Hindus and Muhammadans, they asked an outstanding missionary whom they greatly respected to take this part on their programme. He was, therefore, acting as a com¬ munity representative. What terminology would you use in such a prayer, and would you close it with the words, “in Christ’s name?” e. Utilising Buddhist forms. A successful missionary of absolutely unquestioned loyalty to Jesus Christ and of most devoted missionary purpose, works among Bud¬ dhists. He has worked out a plan,1 formally recom¬ mended by a group of prominent missionaries, of de¬ veloping a centre for a sympathetic approach to these Buddhist priests. The external architecture would cor¬ respond as far as possible to that of a Buddhist monas¬ tery, thus conforming to their ideas insofar as they are in harmony with the Christian spirit. There would be a hospitality hall where travelling monks could be taken in for worship and for study, a temple hall where the brethren could meet daily in solemn worship, a lecture hall, library, meditation hall and prayer tower, built as a pagoda and containing the church bell. Bible classes and lectures would be given daily. In public worship all parts of the Buddhist sacred book, the Tripitaka, in agreement with Christian doctrine will be recognised and can be used in the ritual and teaching. Some of the finest Buddhist chants may also be used. Incense, which l Cf. Chinese Recorder , July, 1920. 58 ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS arouses religious emotion for these Buddhist priests, would have a place. The movement aims at the trans¬ formation of Chinese Buddhism from within, and not in the first place the tearing down of the old structure. DISCUSSION 1. In what way, if any, would your judgment be changed if the missionary had prayed openly in a; if the person in b had been a regular Christian missionary? 2. Has the content of the “Fatiha” anything to do with the question raised in b? If so, get a Koran and read its first chapter (some eight lines). Could you use this in a Christian devo¬ tional service, or not? Why? 3. With regard to case c, state the Bangalore problem in its simplest terms. What is the function of prayer before a non- Christian class? Should prayer, like preaching and teaching, be used as a means of propaganda? As a matter of method in solving this problem, what weight should be given to the way the Hindus and Muhammadans regard the use and omission of the phrase, “in Christ’s name’’? Is this problem merely one of method, means, and approach ; or is something more vital in¬ volved? What bearing, if any, on this question has the wording of the Lord’s prayer? 4. To what extent do you approve of the plan outlined in e? None? Part? All? What dangers or precautions would be suggested as the result of reflection or of a study of history? 5. What would be your attitude toward an Oriental who de¬ liberately refrained from uncovering his head on entering a church ? 6. In each of these cases try to state the grounds on which you approve or disapprove of the action or position taken. 4. THE DISPOSAL OF OLD OBJECTS OF WORSHIP a. A community idol. A recent convert owns an idol which because of its age and history is greatly rever¬ enced by the people. A temple offers to buy it at a high price. There it will be an object of worship. If he destroys it, or gives it to the missionary to be sent to 59 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES some museum in America, his relatives will think that he has been irreverent to his ancestors who have honoured it in the past. They will also think that he should not deprive the village of the protection that they believe has come to it because of the presence of the image. b. A sacred tree . On land possessed by a Christian is a tree that has been held in great reverence by the people of the village. They have been accustomed to perform various religious rites before it. He could shut off access to the tree. Or he could cut it down and thus show that the spirits supposed to be connected with it have no power to protect it or to harm him.1 c. Stepping on an idol. In South India is a com¬ munity which has used one of the stone idols of that region for a step in the threshold of their church build¬ ing. d. Scorning an idol. Alexander Duff, the great Scotch educational missionary, once brought an idol into his class room in Calcutta and dashed it to pieces before the class. That could not be done now. A few years ago a missionary professor in that same city, finding that one of his Hindu students had brought an idol into the dormitory of this Christian institution, took the idol and threw it on the ash heap. The public press took up the matter at once, public opinion was aroused, and the professor had to apologise publicly for what he had done. It is not always easy, especially for young mis¬ sionaries, to restrain expressions of disgust when certain things connected with idolatry are seen, or to avoid re¬ marks about the idols or priests which may offend those who overhear. l Cf. “The First Christmas-tree,” by Henry Van Dyke, in his “Blue Flower.” 60 ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS e. Smashing a shrine. During the mass movement toward Christianity among the Telugus in India, it was often difficult, especially in the hot season, to find suf¬ ficient depth of water to baptise the many converts who came. Dr. Clough decided to build a baptistry under a large tamarind tree in his garden. It was a beautiful, shady spot. An idol shrine had stood there since time immemorial. The peoples of an adjacent hamlet had worshipped there with bloody sacrifice and dance of pos¬ session. With a good deal of difficulty Dr. Clough had the boundary lines settled, confirming mission ownership of the ground. When the villagers heard that he intended to demolish the shrine, they threatened to beat any one who touched it. Clough made short work of that matter. He took a crowbar, ran it into the shrine and threw the stones and mortar right and left. The preachers and men in the mission school were all there and did the rest. If the villagers had fallen upon Dr. Clough, he had deter¬ mined to fight them with the help of his men. The villagers looked on, expecting Clough to fall dead before their eyes, stricken by the demon which they said had its abode in that shrine. Nothing, however, happened. The place was cleared, and a baptistry was built in which since then many thousands have been baptised.1 DISCUSSION 1. An idol or shrine might be connected with the worship of a malignant spirit which holds a region in fear, so that its destruction would in reality free the people. Or the image might represent the highest they knew in the way of worship. Should one’s action in disposing of an idol or shrine be dependent upon the nature of the god? 2. What would you think of the following principle : In such cases as those given above act in such a way as to produce the l Cf. Clough, John E., “Social Christianity in the Orient,” p. 155. 61 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES greatest amount of religious education for the community? In¬ dicate a course of procedure in one of the cases cited which you think would be educative religiously, and one which you think would not be. 3. What other considerations or principles can be brought to bear upon decision in such cases? 5. THE CHOICE OF SYMBOLS FOR CHRISTIAN USE No missionary would want needlessly to irritate a con¬ servative people by insisting on church architecture and decoration which is essentially and defiantly alien. Many feel that buildings which are not obtrusively foreign help to conciliate a people in the transition stage reli¬ giously. Furthermore when Christianity becomes thor¬ oughly acclimatised in any land it naturally expresses itself in symbols congenial to its new environment. Mis¬ sionaries often attempt to assist this process of naturali¬ sation by making use of symbols that have won common acceptance, and about which sentiment is entwined. When, however, such symbols have been associated with a non-Christian religion, the advisability of their assimi¬ lation is sometimes questioned. a. The lotus. The lotus has been a favourite symbol both for Buddhist and for Hindu.1 Its shining flowers floating on the still dark surface of the lake, its manifold petals, opening as the sun’s rays touched them at break of day and closing again at sunset, seemed perfect sym¬ bols of creation. The roots hidden in the mud beneath stood for the cosmos evolved from the dark void of chaos and sustained in equilibrium by the cosmic ether. Their three colors were emblems of the aspects of the One — red for the Creator, white for the Divine Spirit, and blue for the Preserver and Upholder of the Uni¬ verse. Its bell-shaped fruit was the mystic womb of the l Cf. Havell, E. B., “Indian Architecture,” pp. 14, IS, 94, 96, 97. 62 ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS Universe holding the germ of worlds innumerable still unborn. The lotus is used in pictures as a footstool for the gods, gives shape to many an Indian dome and pillar capital, and is a common motif in decoration. Few peo¬ ple would be able to give any clear idea of its symbolic meaning. It has become a conventional factor in Indian architecture. Most churches in India make no attempt to embody elements of Indian architecture. In a few only has this been attempted. One church in Western India has the lotus as a prominent detail of interior decoration. It appears on the windows, pulpit and on the fresco of the walls. It is definitely associated with the idea of purity even in the midst of untoward surroundings. b. The torii. The committee arranging for the World’s Sunday School Convention at Tokyo, in 1920, wanted a convention badge which would embody something dis¬ tinctly Japanese and at the same time be artistic. Inas¬ much as the torii may be considered a representative art design of Japan, a prominent place was given to it in the badge. The real religious significance of the badge was in the sun rising behind Mount Fujiyama at the centre of the torii, the open Bible at its base with the reference, John 9:5, “I am the light of the World.” An American religious journal, commenting on this badge, strenuously objected to the use of “this pagan symbol for a Christian convention.” It was pointed out that the torii “invariably marks the entrance to a Shinto temple”; and that while it is used everywhere in Japan as a mere ornament or decoration, “it is also used every¬ where in Japan as a great pagan guidepost, pointing souls to eternal death instead of eternal life.” “Can we think of the apostle Paul, in that imaginary Christian conven¬ tion at Ephesus in the First Century, when looking about for a badge or symbol for the Christians to wear, decid- 63 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES in g to make the little ‘silver shrines of Diana’ (Acts 19 : 24) the Christian’s badge, accompanying it with a rising sun and a word spoken by Jesus?’’ c. The swastika. One of the foremost Christian uni¬ versities in China has a beautiful chapel embodying vari¬ ous elements of Chinese architecture. The decorations are patterned after designs found in various Peking palaces. The ceiling is decorated with beautifully painted panels of the phoenix, a stork-like bird typifying immor¬ tality and happiness. The ancient swastika symbol 1 oc¬ curs over a hundred times in window panes, iron grating, ends of pews and announcement boards. This figure was not chosen for any religious significance attached to it, since it is found in quite secular places ; but because it made a good framework for the glass and gave a quaint oriental touch that harmonises with other features of the building. The most conspicuous symbols about the chapel, however, are two Christian crosses which tower above everything else at the two ends of the gable of the roof. A writer in an American weekly uses this chapel as an example of “the confusing or ignoring of the clean- cut, black-and-white distinction made by God between himself and all other ‘gods,’ between Christianity and all other ‘religions.’ There is no such ‘separateness’ between certain expressions of Christianity in heathen lands and the false religions of those lands as we find in the First Century under such foreign missionaries as Paul.” The suggestion was added that the symbol of the Christian cross might better have been used throughout. On the other hand the authorities were pleased when a converted Buddhist priest, visiting the chapel, exclaimed over the 1 Americans usually see this symbol in the form of a good luck pin or button. Its many meanings, its use in many different countries and its connection with Buddhism may be found under the heading “swastika” in any good encyclopaedia. 64 ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS religious spirit of the place and attributed his impression to the Chinese symbols used. DISCUSSION 1. Try to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of using the lotus and the torii under the given circumstances. 2. After looking up the history and use of the swastika, judge whether the university, a Christian institution, should replace its Chinese symbols with something else. 3. Is the swastika in the chapel a mark of compromise with “heathenism,” or may its presence, under the dominance of the two Christian crosses on the roof signify the force of Chris¬ tianity both to assimilate and to transcend the truth of Bud¬ dhism? 4. Just what is the value of symbols for worship? How important is it that symbols should be unequivocal in their sug¬ gestive power? Does a lighted candle before a church altar in the West lose its value for us because of its possible suggestion of the cult of fire worship? Why, or why not? 6. CONCERNING THE LIGHT WHICH LIGHTETH EVERY MAN There have been those who have regarded non-Chris¬ tian religions as coming wholly from the Devil. Any good that might be found in them was explained as a borrowing from Christianity, or as inserted by the Devil in order the better to deceive. Others believe that God has not left himself without witness among any people, and that there has always been a Light that shineth in darkness. When such find truth or beauty in non- Christian systems, they take it as trace of this Light, and rejoice in it as a real token of God’s working. A few examples will raise the issue. a. Thankfulness for pagodas. A few years ago the veteran missionary, the Rev. Timothy Richard, D.D., and two younger missionaries were walking down Rul¬ ing Mountain in Central China. Far in the distance Dr. 65 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES Richard pointed out the beautiful pagoda which towers above the city of Kiukiang twelve miles away. Then he asked his younger companions, “Gentlemen, how do you feel when you look at a beautiful pagoda like that?” After a little pause one said, “Well, it makes me feel sad.” “It makes you feel sad?” asked Mr. Richard. “Why, it makes me feel glad. If the Chinese had no pagodas or other beautiful structures attesting to their deep religious instincts, it would be of very little use for others to try to put it into their hearts. It is because the Great Husbandman long ago sowed into their hearts the seeds of vital religion that there is hope for fruitage from our work.” b. Using non-Christian scriptures along with the Bible . Some ten years ago the Nile Mission Press issued a series of tracts or sermonettes for Muhammadans. Each sermon was based on two texts, one from the Koran, and one from the Bible. The material in these tracts was excellent, and they were distributed by vari¬ ous agencies, though with some misgivings on the part of some. c. The use of a classical prayer from Hinduism. One of our recent mission study books in America had at the end of each chapter a prayer. At the end of one chapter 1 occurs this classical Hindu prayer: “From the unreal lead me to the Real, from the darkness lead me to Light, from death lead me to Immortality.” (Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad, 1-3-28. 600 B.C.) d. Respect for Confucius. A “new” Chinese official, when asked to pay reverence to the tablet of Confucius, answered : “I refuse to worship a piece of firewood.” 1 “Building with India," p. 115. 66 ATTITUDE TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS e. Joking about a non-Christian religion. There is a tendency among some of China’s students, Christians and non-Christians, to scoff at China’s religions. A form of popular amusement is to quote from the classics sen¬ tences out of their context in such a way as to make them ridiculous. Or texts may be introduced into jokes made up for the occasion. One day some Chinese Christians held a large meeting in an old ancestral hall in their vil¬ lage. The audience was mainly Christian, but non- Christians were also present. There were some fine addresses, but one number on the program was a repre¬ sentation of Taoist priests by Chinese Christians. For a half hour they made the people laugh, making the Taoist priests ridiculous. DISCUSSION 1. How would you answer the question proposed in case a? 2. How would you refute or support a person who said with reference to case b, “Such a procedure gives reverence alike to the Bible and to the Koran. It acknowledges the two books to have an equal authority. Christianity is complete in itself. We do not wish to place it beside any other, but to give it instead of all other faiths.” 3. Would you justify the use of a Hindu prayer in a Christian textbook on missions as in case c? Why, or why not? 4. Should a missionary quote with undiluted approval the statement of the official in case d? 5. Should Christian missionaries seek to maintain in the minds of Chinese students (case e) respect for their sages, and rever¬ ence for what is true or noble in their teaching? Explain your position on this question. State briefly what you would be inclined to say to the Chinese group after the meeting described in e. 6. Would you rather, or not, that non-Christians should be devout according to their light, until such a time as they hear the Gospel? Does your answer have any bearing at all upon the question as to whether it is a good or bad thing for Christians to make the incense used by Chinese non-Christian worshippers described in case b , page 35? 67 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES 7. In visiting a place of non-Christian worship what should be one’s attitude? If the place were not only idolatrous, but to your standards unaesthetic and repulsive, would your sense of missionary obligation lead you to show your feelings? Why, or why not ? 8. Should a missionary know the good points in a non-Christian religion? Why? Should he acknowledge them openly? Why? When? 9. Some are urging us to discard the use of the words “heathen” and “pagan.” What can be said for, or against, this advice? 10. In what ways should our attitudes or practice be affected by the conviction that there is “the light which lighteth every man coming into the world”? 68 Chapter III RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE 1. STRICT ADHERENCE TO KNOWN HEALTH STANDARDS To go at all to an Eastern country involves a certain health risk. To mingle with the common people means a greater risk. In the pursuit of one’s work one may use all known precautions, feeling a definite responsibility to one’s family and fellow workers to maintain health at its best, and interpreting one’s task as exhibiting safe examples of hygienic living as well as preaching. Or on occasion one may wave aside precautions for the sake of manifesting unhesitating friendship, in the belief that the risk is justifiable or that God will care for one. Let us look at some of the many situations on the foreign field which tempt missionaries to disregard modern hygienic standards. a. Drinking impure milk. A lady physician in a Pun¬ jab village was offered some milk to drink by a woman she had frequently visited. Quite involuntarily she drew back a hit as the milk manifestly was not clean. The woman noticing this, took off her chadar (head cloth), strained the milk, and again proffered it. This time the doctor with more self-composure drank it down. b. A sheet as a tablecloth. A professor in a mission college was in the habit of inviting his students to his home for meals. The students quite naturally wished 69 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES to return the hospitality and invited their professor and his wife to their boarding house. The students ate with their fingers, did not sit at tables, and, of course, did not have table linen. Remembering the white tablecloth in the mission home and wishing to make their guests feel comfortable, they took a sheet off one of their beds near by and used it as a tablecloth. c. Eating native food. A missionary had been eager to win a certain conservative family in his station. A dinner invitation came from them. The missionary knew he had a tendency to Oriental disease; but to refuse the invitation was to miss a prized opportunity, and to go but not eat might be considered impolite. d. Eating from a common dish. A Chinese scholar was employed as teacher in a language school for mission¬ aries. He became interested in Christianity through one of his pupils who was a doctor, and invited her to his home for dinner. After they were seated at the table and ready to dip into the common dish, he said to his guest, aI’ve wanted for a long time to invite some of the missionaries to my home so that I could ask them questions about the Christian doctrine, but I knew they would be afraid to come because I have tuberculosis. I thought you would not be afraid because you understand about disease.” The doctor continued the meal with her host, each dipping chop-sticks into the common dish. e. Accepting hospitality. Missionaries in Korea are very frequently invited to the homes of the people, and Korean etiquette requires the host and hostess to provide a meal or at least some food for their guests. The ordi¬ nary Korean home is not run on sanitary lines. Much of the food is cold. The dishes have probably been washed in unclean water, and the food prepared in water 70 RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE that is contaminated, as in fact almost all the water available for any purpose contains injurious germs. It is hardly possible for a missionary to plead that he cannot eat Korean food, because many missionaries like it. The particular host may have seen his guest eat Korean food at other times, possibly when he knew it was clean. Excuses and explanations are difficult. One missionary writes : “The result is that most of us, when we cannot easily make excuses, select some kinds of food that we think are least liable to be carrying germs and, with a hope and prayer that we will escape the consequences of our rash deed, eat the food. But some of us have suf¬ fered the consequences in sickness and some even in in¬ capacity for further work.” /. Sleeping with a consumptive. Down in the worst slums of Kobe, there is living a very devoted Christian worker by the name of Kagawa. With his cultured wife he makes his home among the miserable people as one of them. He is a scholarly man, and has written various valuable books on the labouring classes. How did he be¬ come such a worker? Years ago he was taken ill with consumption and was lying under a little green mosquito net upon the hard board floor of a small room in a fisher¬ man’s hut by the seaside. It so happened that a mission¬ ary came along. Instead of merely offering a few per¬ functory words of comfort, the missionary stayed with him for several days and slept with him on the same hard floor under the same little mosquito net. Through that act of fearless devotion the sick man saw the heart of Christ, recovered his health, and now is showing a simi¬ lar limitless love to the poor, low-down people of the Kobe slums, who love him as their elder brother. After describing this incident a writer adds : “Yes, that is the way, and it is all worth while.” 1 1 “The Outlook of Missions,” 1920, p. 505. H CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES DISCUSSION 1. What differing attitudes toward danger and disease may rightly be taken by doctors, soldiers (privates, skilled snipers, generals) and missionaries? 2. In considering these cases what weight, if any, should be given to the fact that the missionary has spent years in prepara¬ tion, and has been sent out at great expense? In other words, what really determines the value of a man? 3. What has the modern psychology of fear to do with the questions of this section? 4. In b one might proceed at the time without remonstrance over the novel table cloth, and then later call the leaders of the hostel for a quiet talk where the Western point of view would be explained, so that such a situation might not again arise. What other constructive educative measures can you suggest for any of these cases? 5. Try to clarify these incidents according to various standards (more or less dangerous, more or less likely to bring worthwhile results, mere etiquette, Christian duty, etc.). What principles would apply to each class? 6. In what distinctive way, if any, can a Christian (as com¬ pared with a non-Christian) face the situations of this section (Luke 12:4-34; 13:31-33)? What does Jesus mean by “do not trouble”? Is there such a thing as legitimate foresight? Illus¬ trate from the cases given. How do you think Jesus would have met these cases? 2. THE ACCEPTANCE OF LOWER STANDARDS FOR NATIVE ASSOCIATES A church which fails to exhibit among its members a brotherhood that rises superior to all barriers of race or class is failing in that which is an essential element in Christianity. In abstract theory missionaries assert the spiritual equality of all men and the infinite worth of every human being. But it is acknowledged by them that an attitude of superiority may unconsciously creep into thoughts and acts. If an Indian Christian calls on 72 RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE an Occidental, is that call returned with care? Are home and table open to all alike without distinction of race? Is a chair offered to a Chinese as quickly as to a for¬ eigner? Do Westerners keep a native waiting their con¬ venience, or are they careful to show him the same con¬ sideration as to a European? In conversation, discus¬ sion, or debate, do missionaries encourage from a native an equal freedom of speech and expression of opinion as from one of their own race? What sometimes lies back of the ease with which they call their native associates by their first names, when these associates would not think of reciprocating that freedom? Why do some West¬ erners seem to have a feeling that a native can be put off with a little less attention than a European, and that he will not notice the omission ? The sanitary, economic and social standards to which many native workers in the employ of missions have been accustomed from youth are often distinctly lower than Western standards. Their standards might be called un- Christian in that they militate against full and wholesome life. In such circumstances a problem arises for the missionary. Shall he encourage higher standards and curtail the extension of his work so as to be able to pay his workers a salary that will make these higher standards possible? Or shall he pay them more or less at the market value of that area and let them serve under the somewhat unideal conditions which seem quite natural to them? Some examples will make this problem clear. When stated baldly in written form, their solution may seem quite easy. Perhaps it is a certain social blindness that has made it possible for such problems to arise. Sometimes it seems to be due to an unconscious assump¬ tion that it is perfectly right and fitting that the people among whom Westerners work should have lower stand¬ ards of comfort and well-being. 73 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES a. Damp servants’ quarters. Behind a mission college and on mission land are the servants’ quarters. The level is such that in the rainy season the small mud-walled huts which have no plinth become very damp. Experience shows that the servants are by no means immune from malarial fever and rheumatism. They have lived here uncomplainingly for years ; and yet no European would dream of living in these conditions. b. Accepting current standards. Chinese home life is very different from what we consider ideal in a Christian home. It is very common for a Chinese man of business to live in his shop and to come home only when it is convenient to do so. The influence under which the children are brought up is largely that of the women, for the children of business men and officials seldom come into continuous, personal contact with their fathers. Many merchants return to their homes only at New Years, and others only once in a number of years. It is not uncommon for men seldom to speak to their wives, even when they are home. Hence no one in the Chinese community would think it wrong for the mission to send its Christian Chinese workers off into more or less dis¬ tant regions and to allow them to return home only once or twice a year. For the mission to send families with their evangelists to out-stations would increase the cost and curtail the extent of work. A similar problem arises in connection with health conditions. The prospective evangelist and his family may already be living in such unhealthy conditions that life in certain out-stations would not increase the danger. c . Neglecting to screen native quarters. Most mission boards now equip the houses of their missionaries with mosquito screening, although in many cases the mission¬ aries could not use board money for this very wise pre- 74 RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE caution until comparatively recent times. This health pre¬ caution has not in general been extended to the houses of native Christian workers in the employ of the mission. For example, in one station, where for eight years the missionaries’ houses have been screened, the nearby stu¬ dent dormitories, dining room and kitchen remain un¬ protected. There are many things like this which boards and missionaries would like to do, but the drain on per¬ petually strained budgets would be very great. If they have hesitated to use mission funds for screening the houses for 25,000 missionaries, how much more will they hesitate to appropriate money from direct evangelisation to screen the homes of 109,000 mission workers. d. Permitting unhygienic association. Westerners have begun to understand somewhat the cause and pre¬ vention of tuberculosis. The danger and modes of con¬ tagion are not, as a rule, understood in mission lands. Two native mission workers have been chosen to itinerate together. The district needs their help very much. They seem ideally suited to do team-work together. One plainly has tuberculosis, and yet they are quite ready to live together. e. Employment of a mother. An Indian Christian widow has three small children under school age. She must earn her living, and by training she is fitted to act as a Bible woman visiting the zenanas of non-Christians. The regular pay of the mission for this type of work does not enable her to employ some one to look after the chil¬ dren when she is away from them. So she takes the baby with her to the zenanas and locks the older two children out of the house to look after themselves during the three or four hours she is out. f. Slackness in a hospital. The 1920 minutes of one of the most successful missions of one of the largest 75 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES boards working in China make the following state¬ ment : “After fifty years of medical work we find that at least 90 per cent of our in-patients are sleeping on brick kangs or wooden Chinese beds, using their own filthy clothing and bedding; fully 50 per cent are being nursed by their own ignorant relatives and being fed by food prepared by their own friends who cater to the patient’s likes and dislikes regardless of the doctor’s wishes and therefore do more harm than good. The majority of the buildings used as hospitals and dispensaries are un¬ screened, poorly lighted, inadequately ventilated, and un¬ heated in winter. The toilet and lavatory facilities are criminal to say the least, and very few of our in-patients get a bath even when entering the hospital for treatment.” DISCUSSION 1. Most missions make a practice of supporting many native evangelists and teachers from mission funds. In a certain sense, therefore, they are employers of labour, and cannot escape the responsibility involved in this relationship. In certain areas (among the mass movements in India, for example) the Indian co-workers may come from a group distinctly backward in every way. (a) A mission could accept service at the level at which the people are quite willing to give it, which in many cases is very meagre and inadequate judged by any proper standard of abundant life. In other words, the mission could adopt the cur¬ rent market value in employment. (b) Realising that many may not understand or appreciate higher standards (screened houses, a library, etc.) a mission might decide not to make possible more than would be valued. This position would involve a judgment of the stage of growth or appreciation reached by individuals coming out of a con¬ scripted and meagre life. (c) The mission might feel it advisable to give what might be called a minimum living wage — a wage adequate for a modest but more or less complete life, by hypothesis more than (a) or (b) — even though appreciation of sanitary devices or education 76 RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE had not developed sufficiently to ensure that the wage would be used for the elements which had been regarded as essential for the average Christian life. This would involve a study of the minimum living wage for that area and that group, and the be¬ stowal of this wage apart from the consideration of its probable use. (d) Or the mission might decide to apply the golden rule and give to the native worker what under similar circumstances the missionary would like to receive. Judgment on this basis for most people would result in an allowance to the native co-worker higher than (c). At which of these levels should mission funds be used? What other analysis of the situation would you prefer to make in order to reach a better decision? 2. If current native conditions should not be accepted by a mission as the criterion of what it should provide, what standard should be operative? 3. If the evangelist is an ignorant man, to what extent should the missionary place full responsibility on him for the conse¬ quences of accepting an appointment to a place where sanitary conditions are not what they should be (as in case b and d) ? 4. Explain the grounds, if any, upon which a distinction can be made in the obligation of providing screens for foreign mis¬ sionaries and for native workers (case c ). What weight would you give to the probability that the screens would soon have to be replaced in many a native home? Is the question affected by the fact as to whether the mission worker lives in a mission- owned home or not? What would be the equivalent of screen¬ ing the mission worker’s house, in the case of one who did not live in mission property? 5. If your constructive plan for the consumptive in case d should require money, would you use mission funds, personal funds, or make your action dependent upon the ability of the worker to finance your plan? 6. Is it right to employ the woman in case e? Explain. What would be your constructive plan for this woman? 7. The particular mission referred to in f has thirteen hos¬ pitals with a total of 300 beds, and eleven dispensaries having 125,000 visits a year. What suggestion has this situation to give in the consideration of the difficult question as to whether a mission should pursue an extensive or intensive policy? How should the medical missionary task be interpreted — ministering to the maximum number, or establishing model institutions to 77 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES show the way? In this instance is any moral principle involved? If so, what? 3. DRAWING RACIAL LINES a. Common use of sanitaria. A certain mission in Ceylon has by the seashore a cottage which has been a great boon to the missionaries as a place to which to retire for rest and refreshment. When not actually in use by members of this mission, it has been rented to members of other missions. In course of time a Euro¬ pean school inspector applied for permission to use the cottage. His request was granted. Later a Eurasian school inspector applied, and he also was given permis¬ sion. Finally a Tamil school inspector asked for the use of the cottage. This brought on a great debate in the mission. Similarly, a Siam mission owns a sanitarium at the seaside, consisting of several houses, where the mission¬ aries can go for rest during the hot months. Frequently, on account of illness, a Siamese Christian worker in con¬ nection with the mission asks for the privilege of using one of these houses, often at a time when it will not be used by missionaries. The difficulty in permitting the people of the land to use such houses arises from the difference in standards of living. Among them are those who would not know how to take care of mattresses, who might think it perfectly proper to chew betel nut, and who, in spite of all good intentions, might leave the house in an unattractive, and perhaps unhealthful condition. Members of the mission might not feel safe in taking their families into such houses after those whose standards of sanitation are not Western. Some missionaries find it rests them more to get entirely away from the natives, and therefore want their sanitaria reserved for people of their own race. 78 RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE b. Common play. A returned missionary in an ad¬ dress said, “Of course, we can’t let our children asso¬ ciate with Japanese children.” A missionary wife in India made it a practice never to let her children asso¬ ciate with Indian children. It was understood that even Indian Christians were not to call with their children. Sometimes this segregation of missionary children be¬ comes a burning question in the Christian community, and they say, “Missionaries give themselves, but not their children.” The main explanation of this segregation is not found in race prejudice. In lands where small-pox is consid¬ ered a necessary evil, and where scarlet fever constantly claims victims, but where quarantine is an unknown pre¬ caution, missionary parents must be alert. There are in most countries families of education and Christian cul¬ ture who feel as particular about their children’s health and morals as does the missionary. The children of such people may be welcomed as playmates of the children of missionaries. But another problem arises at this point — the danger of arousing jealousy. For example, some years ago a missionary adopted a Chinese girl, put her through school, and acted as a go-between in selecting a husband for the girl. Naturally the children of this union were as the missionary’s own grandchildren, and they played with the foreign children in the mission premises. This was quite satisfactory to all concerned, but it awakened such jeal¬ ousy on the part of other families that a difficult situation developed. c. Common worship. In some mission areas it is with considerable hesitation that missionaries take their chil¬ dren to the native church service. They believe in estab¬ lishing church-going habits, in the influence of good example, and in racial unity in worship. But in so doing 79 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES they consciously permit the children to run the risk of infection from disease, for precautions are not always understood, and the people are often both impulsive and affectionate toward the little ones of the missionary group. DISCUSSION 1. How would you criticise the principle that no missionary should insist on enjoying a privilege that he is not willing to share with his fellow Christians about him? 2. In general, which of the following procedures do you think would be best for case a: To draw a colour line and limit certain privileges to foreigners ; to take applications impartially in turn, willingly undergoing risks in health for the sake of oneness with the people ; or to take up each case on its merits, making no rule based on race, but running the risk of grievously offend¬ ing certain individuals who might be adjudged hygienically or morally unworthy? On what arguments do you base your decision? 3. At various places on the mission field ( e.g., Shanghai, Woodstock, Kodai-Kanal, etc.) there are schools primarily in¬ tended for the children of missionaries. Conducted as they are in English, under Western teachers, these schools enable parents to keep their children with them longer, and yet send them home prepared to fit eventually into the educational system of the West. There is often a demand from the better class of Chris¬ tians in each land (native or Eurasian) that their children should be admitted to these schools. Classify the following considerations as to this question as primary, or secondary : that sometimes the English spoken in a mixed school has a distinct intonation that is fixed upon a missionary’s child for life; the belief that whether the children are later to serve in America or on the mission field they will be broader and better for coming into touch with the best elements of another civilisation than their own; that standards of conduct and speech might not be satisfactory; the Christian desire to express a feeling of equality in every way with the people among which you work; that there would be difficulty in deciding between worthy and unworthy Nationals; that a school intended to fit American children to enter an American educational system would be unsuited to the children of the land; that association with Western children 80 RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE would tend to denationalise native children. What other con¬ siderations should enter into the decision? 4. On what grounds or under what conditions may mission¬ aries justly or wisely bring upon their children risks as to health and morals due to environment or prolonged separation? 4. WESTERNERS UNDER NATIVE CONTROL In the effort to establish a genuine partnership be¬ tween Westerners and the people of other lands in the evangelisation of their countries consideration must be given to the position of the Western personnel. Here¬ tofore it has been the general rule for Indians and Chinese in missionary service to work under foreign control. It has, until very recently, been very exceptional for a mis¬ sionary to serve under an Indian or a Chinese or a Japanese controlling body. It is increasingly evident that native leaders must share in administration and control. For example, radical proposals are being made in vari¬ ous missions suggesting that missionaries be asked for, located, and retained only with the full approval of the native church or body concerned.1 The possibility of these new'relations may arouse feel¬ ings of racial superiority that have been more or less un¬ conscious. In a mission meeting, where the advisability of appointing a Japanese Bishop was being discussed, one missionary remarked, “Do you suppose I would take orders from a Japanese Bishop? Never. I came here to do for them, not serve under them.” A similar atti¬ tude was betrayed by a missionary leader in a local church in America, who made the following remark re¬ ferring to the people of India: “Fm interested in them and want to help them all I can, and I am sure our church wants to help them. Just what can we do for them?” But when asked, “Do you wish them to help l Cf. “Japan Evangelist,” Vol. 25, p. 250. 81 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES you?” the person hesitated. “Well, I had not thought about that. No, I hardly think so.” DISCUSSION 1. What racial attitude is suggested by the following quota¬ tions? (a) “There is also among many a tendency to think and say that the foreign missionary always regards himself a superior being, whatever his limitations may be.” 1 (b) “The question as to whether there should or should not be foreign workers under the direction of the Chinese bishop might well prove the most serious of all problems were the Church to adopt the new policy.” 2 2. Criticise the following statement:3 “A genuine partnership involves reciprocity, and if on the one hand many Indian Christian workers are under the control of a body composed of foreigners, it would seem that hesitation on the part of foreign missionaries to place themselves under the direction of an Indian body is a denial of the principle of equality and brotherhood.” 3. What are the reasons why it should ever be suggested that foreign missionaries should work under the control of leaders of the land to which they go? 4. Under what circumstances might one rightly object to being under such control? 5. Remembering that the missionary aim is not so much to get things done as to help people grow, try to state the ideal rela¬ tion between missionaries officially and unofficially (administra¬ tive power to direct action, authority to coerce judgment, demo¬ cratic partner, helper, etc.). 6. What application, if any, has John 13 : 2-17 to the inter¬ racial question raised in this section? 7. Of the following words used with reference to other races, which would you discard, which prefer, and why: inferior, superior, retarded, backward, primitive, exotic, undeveloped? 8. Suppose a change from foreign to native control would involve a lessening of efficiency, would this be conclusive against the change? Explain. In the light of your answer criticise a principle often enunciated, viz. : choose the best man for a given task whether he be foreign or native to the country. 1 Report of a Conference at Bangalore, India, “Young Men of India,” Vol. 29, p. 453. 2 International Review of Missions, Vol. 9, p. 398. 8 Ibid., p. 243. 82 RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE 9. Should a Christian be more expectant than an agnostic with reference to the possibilities in other peoples? On what grounds? With what support, if any, from the history of missions? 5. DEMANDING ONE’S RIGHTS AND APPEAL TO LAW Since Christian missions aim to express Christ’s mes¬ sage of love and blessing, and since their ostensible pur¬ pose is to do good to the people, their representatives have to be particularly careful of their procedure in cases of insult or injury. There are those who think that missionaries should stand for their full legal rights. They would say that no people is without a sense of fairness, and hence the interests of order and justice make the demand for compensation advisable ; that the surrender of a just and legal claim would only increase lawlessness; that a missionary or mission is obligated to co-operate in supporting just principles of personal, national, or international law ; and that the quiet assump¬ tion of the protection to which one is legitimately entitled will ultimately be most helpful to all interests. Others hold that missionaries should never make any claim. There seems to be unanimity in this attitude when it is a question of compensation for loss of life. But even in property losses, some would emphasise the effect of patient endurance and forgiveness. To do otherwise would be to demonstrate the old law of “an eye for an eye,” rather than the law of love. Many would adopt a midway course between these extremes. They would assert that fidelity to the law of service and interest in the true and lasting welfare of mankind will lead one sometimes to accept, sometimes to reject compensation. The problem is raised in a great variety of situations. a. Property. Twenty years ago a well-disposed vil¬ lager in Ceylon gave a mission permission to build a 83 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES school on his property. After the lapse of twenty years he changed his mind, opposed the mission work, and demanded the land on which the mission had built its school building. He threatened to sue the mission in the courts, but the missionaries knew that by law the land, after ten years of unquestioned possession by the mission, could not be reclaimed by the former owner. The school could not be removed without serious loss. Land had increased in value in the twenty years, and no other suitable land seemed available. Several similar problems have arisen in the same mis¬ sion, and it has usually defended its rights in the courts. The missionaries have considered that in work of a helpful, philanthropic, religious character, such as they were carrying on, one man’s change of heart should not be allowed to interfere with the general welfare. The result has been serious anti-mission feeling on the part of the people concerned. b. Injury to summer homes. A certain piece of prop¬ erty in a summer resort in China, belonging to a number of missionaries, was injured by Chinese soldiers. The missionaries met to discuss whether they should appeal for an indemnity. At this meeting the majority felt that a lesson in respect for law and order was fitting, and that future difficulty would probably be prevented if a moderate indemnity, sufficient to repair the property, was demanded. c. Damage from riot. A riot broke out in Tokyo at the close of the war with Russia as a result of dissatis¬ faction with the terms of peace. Some mission property was damaged, but most of the missions affected thought it inadvisable to ask for compensation from the govern¬ ment. Contributions made by Christians, Shintoists, and Buddhists compensated for a part of the damage. 84 RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE d. Destruction with official connivance. In the Boxer uprising the entire mission compound in Weihsien was destroyed with the wanton connivance of the local offi¬ cials. The missionaries felt that those who could so easily have prevented the destruction of the property should bear some of the cost of rebuilding. And yet they saw that both gentry and people were sullen and resentful, and that full indemnity could be exacted only by fear or force. They became convinced that such an exaction would embitter the people and prejudice Chris¬ tian influence for decades. So they decided to share the loss with the Chinese, and to bear a part of the punish¬ ment with the guilty, in the hope that their foes, moved by such an example of Christian love, would be concili¬ ated toward the work of the mission. Accordingly, after having made plain to the Chinese officials that the bona- fide loss was 64,421 taels, they voluntarily reduced their claim to 45,000 taels, and divided all the rest of the loss among themselves. Yuan Shih Kai did not hide his grateful appreciation of the spirit manifested by the mis¬ sionaries. e. A memorial as indemnity. In a note of November 7, 1906, Secretary Root proposed to the Persian Gov¬ ernment in regard to the expiation for the murder of Rev. Benjamin W. Labaree: “In like cases, which have occurred elsewhere within recent years, notably in the Chinese empire, a practical solution of the problem has been found and one which may be followed with singular appropriateness in the present case. It is that the money penalty exacted in punishment of the crime shall be devoted to the erection of a permanent memorial structure, such as a hospital or school, to stand as a monument in reprobation of the crime and as a beneficent augury of a better state of things to come. Such a memorial building erected in the 85 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES neighbourhood of the murder, with an appropriate in¬ scription, would serve as a lasting lesson in favour of law and order, besides doing a work of good among the Persian people.” 1 DISCUSSION 1. In case a should the missionaries insist on the title and meet the man in court? Agree to give up the title as soon as other land can be secured, providing the original owner will pay the cost of removal? Give over all rights at once? Submit the question to non-Christian public opinion, willing thus to demon¬ strate their good will, and confident that their school had actually been run so as to be of community value? Or would something else be better? 2. In matters of this kind under what kind of circumstances, if any, should a place be given to each of the following consid¬ erations : self-interest, resentment, forbearance, the bearing of one’s action on the interests of others, levying a sum beyond the bare equivalent as a punitive measure, on the part of a Christian mission? On the part of a Christian nation? 3. Should the obligation or the privilege of taking compensa¬ tion differ, depending on whether the insult or injury is to a country, a mission, or an individual missionary? In other words, has the larger group an obligation to maintain prestige or to enforce rights which does not arise when the issue affects a single individual? Give the grounds for your judgment. 4. In one mission land there may be a highly ordered govern¬ ment voluntarily extending freedom of conscience to all. In another the government may still be affected by extra-terri¬ toriality and may have granted freedom of conscience only be¬ cause of treaty pressure with no preparatory public sentiment behind it. How would the obligation for helping a community to maintain high principles of responsibility through the payment of compensation to Christian missions differ in the two cases? In other words, to what extent may it be said that the propriety of acceptance of indemnity by a mission is in large degree a question as to the stage of advancement reached by the people among whom a wrong has been committed? 5. In what way would the question of accepting compensation be affected by the fact of its being offered voluntarily, or de¬ manded by law? 1 “Foreign Relations,” 1907, Part II, pp. 943-4. 86 RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE 6. Suppose it were ascertained that the levied compensation was obtained by an oppressive, corrupt, or irritating assessment on a town or district, how should this influence one’s action? 7. Disinterestedness and kindliness might be shown by refusing to have anything to do with punishment, compensation, or in¬ demnity. Are there other ways of showing the Christian attitude through better, more positive, and more constructive measures (case e, for example) ? Apply your answer to the cases given above, and give any other illustration known to you. 8. In what way have your decisions in these matters been based on your conception of what the Spirit of Jesus would prompt? 6. SECURING JUSTICE FOR NATIVE CHRISTIANS In every mission land where Christians are persecuted, cases of gross injustice are by no means uncommon, and the impulse that comes to the missionary to use his in¬ fluence in behalf of the afflicted convert is almost irre¬ sistible. Interference seems, in many cases, an obvious and necessary act of Christian brotherhood. While every mission field presents this problem, it has aroused more attention in China than in any other field. There the Roman Catholics have made themselves notorious by an excessive use of their influence on officials in behalf of Roman converts. Experienced missionaries of the Prot¬ estant Churches in China overwhelmingly discourage the use of their prestige as privileged foreigners, and even of the name of their church or mission, in connection with any law case. It is acknowledged that there are oc¬ casionally extreme cases where the demands of humanity demand interference. But even here, it is in general deemed wise that the missionary should not act as an individual, but should appeal through the head or the local board of his mission. The reasons for this position have grown out of long experience. The influence of the missionary often comes, in the last analysis, from a dread of the foreign govern- 87 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES ment at his back; and even an indirect appeal to this is irritating. The protection which missionaries were able to extend, and actually did extend to Christians, led multitudes of unworthy persons to attach themselves to the church. When the prestige of the foreigner was used to help such it led to a miscarriage of justice and to the discredit of the church. In ordinary lawsuits, where a Christian is one of the parties, it is considered most harmful for a missionary to appear as his backer, even though he may be convinced that his presence will help to secure a fair hearing and a just decision.1 Con¬ sider some concrete cases. a. When persecuted by Roman Catholics. Mr. Chow, a silversmith, became interested in Christianity through a tract received from an American missionary and later became a catechumen in the Roman Catholic church. Finding himself in bad company, he left the church to the mortal offence of his co-religionists. His reception by an American Protestant mission, after the usual six months’ probation, led the Roman Catholics to make a determined effort to punish him for his apostasy. They lodged with a foreign priest near by a false charge that Mr. Chow had led an attack upon one of their chapels. The priest took the matter up and had the silversmith thrown into prison. The American missionaries had every reason to believe that the charge was absolutely false. Furthermore there was an epidemic of typhus in the jail which made imprisonment awaiting trial very dangerous. b. When oppressed by corrupt officials. One of the most loyal members of the Y. M. C. A. in Peking was l Consult the World’s Missionary Conference, 1910, Vol. VII, pp. 13-15, and “Mission Problems and Methods in South China,” T. Campbell Gibson, Chap. XI. 88 RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE Mr. Yung Tao, a wealthy merchant. Some few years ago he became a Christian. From this time on he vigor¬ ously attacked many of the public officials for their cor¬ ruption and naturally greatly angered them. They suc¬ ceeded in capturing him, gave him a long prison sentence on a trumped-up charge, and it was generally understood that he would never come out alive. The Y. M. C. A. secretaries visited him constantly in prison for the pur¬ pose of impressing the officials with the number of for¬ eign friends that he had. They had to face the question as to whether pressure should be brought to bear on the officials. c. Convicting a desperado. A man named Wang, deacon in the church at K. P., came to his missionary pastor with a story of how his young unmarried daughter had been betrayed by a desperate character in that town and had given birth to a child. The same desperate character had forced other young women of the family who were living in that same court to have illicit re¬ lations with him. A few weeks after this information was given the missionary, a brother of Wang’s returned from business in a distant province. This man was not a Christian. He heard the story and at once proposed to Deacon Wang that they lie in wait for the desperado and murder him. He further affirmed that if his brother, the deacon, would not help him he would undertake this alone. At this point the deacon laid the situation before the missionary. Knowing that if any member of the Wang family should commit murder the whole clan would be involved, the missionary counselled patience, urged the deacon to restrain his brother from violence, and asked that a full statement of the case be prepared in writing, with a list of other crimes the desperado may have com¬ mitted, giving names, dates, full details and a list of 89 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES reliable Chinese citizens who could vouch for the facts presented. When the statement was prepared it was found that the desperado had murdered two or three husbands in order to obtain their wives and was a counterfeiter and gambler in addition to being a rapist. After cautioning the Wang brothers of the consequences in case their statement should be found to deviate from the truth, the missionary called upon the head magistrate of the district, laid the statement before him, and urged him, in case the accusations were verified, to act according to Chinese law. The magistrate took the statement, and a short time later the desperado was arrested and impris¬ oned. d. Persecution by relatives. A young farmer lad, Bela Singh by name, a Sikh by religion, attended one of the mission schools of the Punjab. As a result of the teaching there received, he became a Christian. Because of this he was ostracised by his family. His father had an inter¬ est in a fine piece of irrigated land worth considerable money. On the death of the father, the relatives com¬ bined to prove that Bela Singh was not a legitimate son and therefore was not entitled to share in the land. The judge before whom the case was tried was also a Sikh and gave a decision against him. Bela Singh had been teaching in a mission school for a number of years at about five dollars a month. He had a family of three children and was supporting them with difficulty on this pay. If he were to return to his old religion, he would at once be given his share of the property, and all his worldly needs would be supplied. There was a very real temptation here. Bela Singh wanted to appeal his case. There was a better chance under another judge, but the expenses would be great and he did not have the money. 90 RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE e. Protection of a generous preacher. An elderly preacher who had been connected with the Christian church for nearly twenty years had a disagreement with his neighbour over the boundary of their property. As he had purchased this property only after surrendering his previous home to the mission for a church building, and had thereby incurred the enmity of his new neigh¬ bour who had planned to buy the land himself, the preacher felt that he was entitled to help from the foreign missionary in the law-courts in defending his title to the strip of land about a foot wide, over which he and his neighbour were quarrelling. The missionary had only recently been warned by the consul in common with all other missionaries that he must not exert his personal influence or appear in any way at trials before a Chinese court. He therefore refused to help the preacher, with the result that the lawsuit dragged on and gradually submerged the preacher in debt. As the preacher had many children, grandchildren, and other relatives in the church who were indignant at the refusal of the mis¬ sionary to help, a very unhappy and strained situation was created.1 DISCUSSION 1. Some Protestant missionaries have laid it down as a fixed rule that they will teach their converts to rely simply on the protection of God, refusing them any assistance when they are wronged or persecuted. Such an unalterable rule undoubtedly simplifies a missionary’s course. But how, in general, would you regard solutions of such extreme simplicity? 2. Analyse the reasons why a missionary would, or would not, be more bound by the Christian spirit to help gain justice for native Christians than for others (cf. Chap. IV, sec. 4). 3. In which of these cases would you be inclined to render assistance? Why? l Additional cases will be found in Clough, John E., “Social Chris¬ tianity in the Orient,” pp. 168-76. 91 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES 4. If money is needed in order to render assistance, as in case d, is this a legitimate use of mission funds? 5. What is your judgment as to the wisdom of the following principle : “Most of us have learned to refuse to take up cases of indi¬ vidual wrong, even when these appeal most keenly to our sym¬ pathies. But when a combined effort is made to prevent the profession of Christianity in a village, town, or district, when there is no question of private dispute, and where it is impossi¬ ble to adjust matters by reasonable explanations and private conference, it seems to be legitimate and right that we should claim through official channels the recognition of the right of the people to profess the Christian religion without interference. The petty persecution of new Tai Christians in the Yunnan Province by imposing a fine for accepting Christianity, is an example of a group wrong which was corrected by missionary appeal.” On what grounds would legal help be given by a missionary to a group, while not to an individual? 7. HARBOURING REFUGEES During recent civil wars in China, missionary com¬ pounds have often been sought as a haven of refuge for distracted civilians. When the hostile armies, bent upon looting and disorders of every kind have broken into a city, the people, especially the women and children, have been panic-stricken and have flocked in great crowds to the missionary for protection. They believe that the soldiers will respect the foreign flag and the property of foreigners. As a matter of fact those sheltered by the missionaries have generally been unmolested. At the first the missionaries in many places threw open their gates and admitted both people and possessions. Later they ad¬ mitted only the people, for the missionaries found that the people were abusing their privilege of bringing valua¬ bles, and there was a danger that their mission com¬ pounds would become too tempting for the soldiers. The question of giving refuge- to about two hundred Christian women and children from a Chinese city which was being attacked by revolutionary soldiers came to cer- 92 RELATIONS WITH THE PEOPLE tain missionaries. Would it be proper to take in these women and children, the majority of whom were the wealthiest and most influential in the city, and thus open up their compound to a possible attack by the rebels be¬ cause of the lure of loot and also hostages ? After much prayer and consultation the missionaries allowed the ref¬ ugees to enter and they stayed for three months. Fre¬ quent raids were made on the buildings just outside the compound walls, and several visitations made by officers of the rebel forces, but no attempt was made to loot or worry the compound. As a result of this action on the part of the missionaries, a most conservative, and heretofore most difficult, city to reach now has two or¬ ganised churches and a large number of Christians within its walls. The Christian Chapel has been made the meet¬ ing place for the gentry, influential men, and boys of the city. In another city refuge was given in the mission com¬ pound both to Christians and non-Christians. A small rental was charged to non-Christians to help pay for re¬ pairs. In still another centre a very wealthy official sent a messenger to a missionary with the following proposi¬ tion: “If you will allow me to bury $100,000 in your compound, I will give you ten per cent of the amount/’ DISCUSSION 1. If you badly needed money for mission work, would you accept this man’s offer? Why? 2. On what principles would you feel justified in giving refuge to women and children? 3. What other principles, if any, should be brought to bear upon the question of receiving their valuables? Soldiers? 4. Would you receive non-Christians as well as Christians? Why? 5. What help in solving these questions can be obtained from a review of the rights and responsibilities of neutral nations during the war? 93 Chapter IV PROBLEMS IN ECONOMICS 1. SALARIES FOR MISSION ASSISTANTS In many mission fields it is a perennial problem to secure enough native evangelists of the right quality to carry on the work planned by missions. Unquestionably one cause for this — though not the only one — is the rela¬ tively low pay given to those engaged in directly spiritual work under a mission. To make the problem definite, let us consider a mission in the Belgian Congo which employed several hundred evangelists and also several scores of workmen in its various stations. Both sets of men were doing mission work — the one preaching and teaching; the other erecting schools, houses, and churches, making furniture, running steamers, and print¬ ing literature entirely for mission use. The pay of an evangelist was lower to begin with than an ordinary, unskilled workman ; and the rate of increase also was very modest, hence after a term of five or ten years the evangelist’s pay was very much less than that of a boy who had done manual labour at the station for an equal period of time and had learned masonry, car¬ pentering, blacksmithing, or printing. The evangelist, however, in many cases was located in his native village, where his living expenses were lower. In practically all cases the workman had to pay more for his food, since he lived in the large centres of population, away from his own family, and wore out more clothes than the evangelist. The evangelist had more leisure time than 94 PROBLEMS IN ECONOMICS the workman, when he might cultivate a garden, or hunt, or fish, and thus increase his income that way. But, taking everything into consideration, his salary was lower than that earned by a tradesman of equal ability. DISCUSSION 1. What analogy for this condition is there in the West? 2. Discuss the wisdom of setting apart one vocation as more spiritual than another; as properly receiving a lower economic return. 3. What relative standards as between the various walks in life should a missionary seek to establish in inaugurating work in a new field? 4. Most missionaries are on a basis of service with a non¬ competitive subsistence allowance. Should native mission workers come on this basis? Should this basis be extended to promoters of missions in the West? To clergymen? To laymen? Give your reasons why this principle should, or should not, be limited to the 25,000 people called missionaries. 2. THE USE OF FUNDS FROM NON-CHRISTIAN SOURCES There are liberal-minded non-Christians in every land who can be persuaded to contribute, ofttimes most gen¬ erously, to mission work. Usually such men have little or no sympathy with the evangelistic aim of missionaries. They value, however, the humanitarian aspect of the work, the general religious effect, or the educational, medical, or economic results. Widespread use has been made of funds from such sources. We will consider a typical case. At the World’s Sunday School Convention at Tokyo in 1920, in order to provide the building and other local facilities for the convention, there was formed a Patrons’ Association, made up of seventy of Tokyo’s leading busi¬ ness men. Among the officers and members of the Patrons’ Association were those who were professedly 95 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES Buddhist or Confucianist in their religion. These men shouldered heavy financial responsibilities during a time of financial depression and contributed $150,000 for the building and other expense. They said that they felt that Japan needed the spiritual impact of the convention. A series of editorials in an American religious weekly strongly objected to the Tokyo plan. The acceptance of “non-Christian support in a pagan land” was referred to as “a root mistake.” In support of this position it was asserted that, “The giving of true Christian testimony is never dependent upon, but always hindered by, the patronage and support of unbelievers. ‘Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers/ God tells his children: ‘for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity ? or what com¬ munion hath light with darkness ?’ ” The convention practice was taken as evidence of “unscriptural fellow¬ ship with, and dependence upon, the non-Christian fac¬ tors of our civilisation,” an expression of the “compro¬ mise and concession and fellowship with unbelievers that we in the Christian church in the home lands have been responsible for these many years past,” and a proof that “the professing Church of Christ is tangled up with the unbelieving world in many ways.” The writer further asks, “If Paul had been led to hold a Christian convention in the city of Ephesus, after the Church at Ephesus was well established, the conven¬ tion to be attended by Christians from the entire civilised world of that day, can we think of Paul either seeking or permitting the moral and financial patronage and co¬ operation of leading worshippers of Diana of the Ephe¬ sians, such as Demetrius, the silversmith, or the town clerk who had quelled the riot there, or other leading non-Christians who could give “prestige” and publicity to the Christian convention if they would? Or would Paul have felt that the fellowship and co-operation of any who were not openly confessed believers in Christ 96 PROBLEMS IN ECONOMICS as the only Son of God and the only Saviour of men would have been a tragic barrier to the giving of the Gospel ?” DISCUSSION 1. It will be remembered that Zerubbabel absolutely refused to let certain non-Jews assist in rebuilding the temple (Ezra 4: 1-6). Study this incident carefully to see whether it is really a parallel case. If it is, how far should Zerubbabel’s decision be authoritative ? 2. It has been pointed out that many Christian gatherings in America do not hesitate to enlist the financial and social support of the mayor of the city where they meet and of the local chamber of commerce. Aid is not rejected because there may be in that body a preponderance of Jews or non-believers. Does the analogy support the Tokyo practice, or is it also an evidence of low standards in America? 3. In the Old Testament one finds various conceptions of holiness.1 The roots of the idea are found in taboo. There is the conception of holiness or uncleanness as a quality trans- missable by contact. A more ethical insight makes a distinction between things which must not be touched because they are associated with Jehovah, and things that may not be touched because they are hateful to Him. From this came the idea of holiness as goodness, awful and exclusive. In the highest de¬ velopment of the idea with regard to people, holiness is used to denote a religious community as a whole which has sanctified itself by conforming to the requirements that express Jehovah’s will and nature. What further principle or example from the life and teaching of Jesus can be brought to bear upon this conception? Holiness and love are two words which better than any others express the higher aims of human life and man’s most comprehensive obligation. Try to make explicit what holi¬ ness should mean for a modern man or organisation or com¬ munity. Apply this conception to the problem in hand. 4. Mention various conditions in which it would be wrong for a Christian enterprise or mission to take money from non-Chris¬ tian sources; conditions in which it would be right. l See article “holiness” in any good dictionary of the Bible. 97 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES 3. MISSIONARY ASSISTANCE TO A NATIVE CHRISTIAN ENTERPRISE A group of native Christians in China decided to open a co-operative store and sold shares to Christians only. The object was to have a safe form of investment for Christians, to enable Christians to make their purchases from a store which did not handle goods concerned with non-Christian rites and to demonstrate that Christians could be successful business men and yet close their shop on Sundays and be Christians in other ways. The for¬ eign missionaries took no stock, but one missionary acted as purchasing agent. This secured certain advantages for the co-operators — a missionary discount from certain firms; an extension of credit because they had been in¬ troduced by a missionary, the repacking of their goods at the port city by a man in the employ of the mission, and a considerable immunity from petty thieving, since the goods were shipped into the interior in the name of the foreigner. The Christian store, therefore, could to a certain extent under-sell other stores. The missionary who undertook to assist the new enterprise was acting as an individual and did not realise at first all that was involved. The mission, as such, had never had occasion to deal with a situation like this, but found it necessary to define the policy for its missionaries for the future. DISCUSSION 1. What assistance could justly be given to this co-operative store by missionaries? What advantages, if any, were unjust? Formulate the principles upon which you base your answers. 2. Is the continuous assistance to a Christian enterprise, such as this, a legitimate use of a missionary’s time? 3. Well recognised forms of mission service include efforts to raise the economic level through introduction of agricultural machinery, instruction regarding rotation of crops, fodder rais¬ ing and storing, new staples for growing, and the running of 98 PROBLEMS IN ECONOMICS industrial schools. What difference, if any, is there between these activities and the missionary assistance mentioned in this problem ? 4. What would you say to a person who held that Chinese Christians should not secure immunity from petty thieving in a way not open to others ; that they should bear this burden until standards could be raised so as to protect others as well as themselves ; and that immunity might make them less active for reform? 4. THE LIMITATION OF ECONOMIC HELP TO CHRISTIANS a. Impartiality in service. The Commission on Vil¬ lage Education in India, after outlining various ways in which a mission school could be used as a community centre, said: “Such efforts should, as far as possible, be for non-Christians as well as Christians, not only because this is a right procedure, but in order to give no encour¬ agement to the idea that material benefits will be given to people merely because they are Christians.1 After strongly advising the encouragement of co-operative credit societies as a means/of building up the Christian community, the report went on to add: “Yet, even such societies should be open to non-Christians as well as Christians.” 2 After urging that the exploited Christians of outcaste origin should be befriended, describing cer¬ tain experiments already made in settling needy converts on land, and outlining the opportunities for developing a wholesome Christian atmosphere in properly managed farm colonies, the Commission gave this word of cau¬ tion : “While it is usually found necessary to restrict actual colonisation to Christians, help in the acquisition of land should be freely given to others as opportunity occurs. For one danger must be guarded against in this as in every other type of welfare work — the impression 1 “Village Education in India,” p. 82. 2 Ibid., p. 143. 99 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES that land is given as a reward for becoming Christians/’ 1 Again, after showing that Christians encounter peculiar difficulties in getting started as skilled industrial workers, and advising a modified apprentice type of school or com¬ pany, it saw fit to say : “While such companies would seek to be of service to the Christian community by find¬ ing openings for those who have been dispossessed be¬ cause of their Christian profession, we believe that em¬ ployment under such companies should be open to Chris¬ tian and non-Christian, and that there should be abso¬ lutely no coddling of Christians as such.” 2 b. Reserving tips for Christians. On the other hand a missionary was heard to say, “I am constantly on the lookout for possible improvements and agricultural sug¬ gestions. But, of course, I keep these tips for my Chris¬ tians.” c. A Christian incubator. The same attitude is some¬ what reflected in an incident described by a missionary in India. He had gone to the home of one of his local preachers, a man whose salary was only five dollars a month. After a time the worker said, “Come around behind my house. I want to show you something.” He opened a little door, the only opening into a little, mud- walled hut. He asked, “Can you see anything?” The missionary peered through the dim light and said, “I can see a pile of mud in the corner.” The worker replied, “That is what I want you to see,” and bending down, he pulled out a little drawer and out jumped a brood of real chickens. He stooped and pulled out a lower drawer, and out jumped another brood of chickens. Then the missionary saw that he had taken an empty five gallon Standard Oil can, and had cut it so as to put in two 1 “Village Education in India,” p. 146. 2 Ibid., p. 152. 100 PROBLEMS IN ECONOMICS drawers. He had packed it with mud so as to retain the heat, had put a thermometer on the top, had made a little piece of tin to project under each drawer, and under that had placed a simple village light. The tin had carried just sufficient heat under each drawer to hatch the eggs. In short, out there in the villages, where non-Christians had not made an invention since the days of Abraham, this man had invented a first-class incu¬ bator. The missionary became so enthusiastic over it that he said, “If you will let me, I will pay the expenses and have your incubator patented.” “Oh, no, you won’t,” the worker replied. “I have lain awake nights thinking this out to help my poor Christians to make a living. If it is patented, the Hindus and Muhammadans will get it.” It was not patented. DISCUSSION 1 1. In attempting to formulate some principle which would help a missionary to determine the extent to which aid in economic uplift should be confined to Christians, what help, if any, can be given from Western analogies?2 2. Arrange the following declarations of mission policy as far as possible in an ascending order of excellence : (a) A missionary can’t work for everybody. There are enough Christians to occupy his full time and energies, and so he should concentrate on them. (b) If non-Christians see that certain economic and social advantages are given to those who are baptised, it will lead many to become Christians. Welfare work by missionaries should be limited to Christians, so as to increase this tendency. 1 See also question 2, p. 91, and question 4, p. 93. 2 For example, some Y. W. C. A. summer camps are open to members first, or to non-members at a higher rate. In other associations member¬ ship signifies the adoption of a certain purpose, but adoption of the purpose is not necessary for admission to gymnasium and other classes. There the same fee is required of members and non-members. In a New York parish house, where a Jewish street gang had been drawn into the gymnasium, the boys of the gang were informed that they would have to get fifteen out to Sunday School if they wanted to con¬ tinue their gymnasium class. The leader of the gang spoke thus to his group, “The Church is doing a lot for us, and we ought to do something for them. Let’s go to Sunday School.” 101 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES (c) The missionary’s ultimate object should be to help the whole community. But, since his best service is the development of leadership, and since Christians by their very contact with Christ are more open to growth and progress than non-Christians, he should concentrate his attention on developing Christian leadership as the best immediate step toward the inclusive goal. (d) A missionary should meet human need as he finds it, irrespective of whether the person is Hindu, Muhammadan, Bud¬ dhist, or Christian. (e) A missionary should concentrate his welfare work on the Christian community in the hope that, as a result of his assist¬ ance, its higher percentage of literacy, its lower death rate, and its rising economic level will eventuate in a growing prestige for this community, which will attract and impress others, and thus lead to the glory of the Church. 3. How would you have advised the worker with reference to his incubator? 4. Suppose that, through superior education and attention from experienced Western helpers, the Christian community does come to stand out in economic, educational, and social ways, as sug¬ gested in 2-e. How far would it be legitimate to encourage non-Christians to infer the superiority of Christianity from this? 5. The Christian society which is developed abroad may think of itself as composed of the favoured few, or as the servant of all. Sketch the possible procedures that would encourage each of these attitudes. 5. MEANS OF SECURING MISSION PROPERTY a. Purchase through a Chinese. A certain mission compound in China has a circuitous and inconvenient exit. A long narrow section of land separates it from a near-by road. Every effort to purchase a right of way through the strip failed because there was increasing re¬ sentment among the Chinese in this city against foreign intrusion, and the Chinese would not sell more land to the mission. Under these circumstances the missionaries had a Chinese Christian purchase the desired land in his own name, and then later transfer to them. 102 PROBLEMS IN ECONOMICS b. Forcible purchase. A large tract of land was re¬ cently desired by a Christian University in China for agricultural purposes. Much of it was grave land. For this and other reasons the villagers refused to sell. Since this land seemed necessary if the good work of the uni¬ versity was to expand, the Chinese Vice President of the University appealed to the Government. The Govern¬ ment issued a proclamation to the effect that the villagers must sell the land by a fixed date. The villagers still refused, so soldiers were sent and this land was forcibly acquired. The result of over-riding their conception of the sacredness of graves and their beliefs regarding an¬ cestral spirits was that the sympathy of the agricultural people was alienated. The forcible sale was condemned by some newspapers as un-Christian. c. Building under protest. One of the cities in Shan¬ tung had long been exceedingly hostile to Christianity, resisting all attempts of itinerating missionaries to enter. Finally, in 1883, although the missionaries could secure no property within the city, they were able to buy a piece of land a mile away upon which building operations were started. Placards were put up by the Chinese calling on the people to gather on a fixed date and kill the foreign¬ ers. No Chinese could be persuaded to guard the build¬ ing materials at night, and so a young missionary of only fifteen months’ experience (Calvin W. Mateer) bravely undertook not only to oversee the building operations during the day, but to sleep on the materials at night with a revolver by his side. This station became the seat of an exceptionally successful extension work. On the other hand a case is known where a church, which was built against the decided protest of the non-Christian community, was boycotted for twenty years (i.e., until the generation that knew most about it passed away). 103 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES d. Equivocation. Official restrictions on missionary work in Turkey sometimes raised ethical issues for mis¬ sionaries working there. For example, a missionary wanted to build a hospital. The local officials refused to issue a building permit. However, one of them sug¬ gested that he could give a permit for a stable, then for a wash house beside the stable, then for an addition to the wash house, and so on, until the necessary buildings had been completed. Later on, exemption from taxation was demanded on the ground that the institution was a hospital. e. Half truths. Another missionary in Turkey wished to build a school, but could get no permit. She was able to get a permit for a hotel, which could be made large enough to accommodate many guests. In this way she secured the building, but did not escape the taxes. /. Official pressure. Robert College, located on the choicest site on the Bosphorus, is one of the outstanding Christian institutions of the Near East. To secure per¬ mission to erect the college buildings on the magnificent site selected, required years of beleaguering the Turkish government and, in the end, would have been unsuc¬ cessful without the aid of a strategy on the part of Admiral Farragut. At a time when the Turks had re¬ peatedly postponed issuing permission for the building of the College, and when the Sultan had inquired of his advisers in despair, “Will this Mr. Hamlin never die and let me alone on this College question?” Admiral Far¬ ragut appeared with an American battleship in the har¬ bour of Constantinople. The visit was friendly, but the Turks sought a hidden motive, and they were quick to find it when the Admiral, who had been coached by Dr. Hamlin and a friend of the College, blandly inquired of the Grand Vizier, “Why cannot the American college be 104 PROBLEMS IN ECONOMICS built?” This question he repeated to various Turkish officials, who read into it such sinister meaning that shortly after his departure, an imperial order was hastily issued providing for erection of the buildings on the conspicuous and commanding site selected. Thus began in the city which for fifteen centuries had been the centre of the life and power of this part of the world a Christian educational enterprise of paramount impor¬ tance. DISCUSSION 1. Are all these instances on the same level of advisability? If not, which would you select as least culpable? As most culpable? 2. How would your judgment in case a be affected by each of the following possibilities : That the Chinese Christian represented that he wanted the property for his own use in business ; that he simply refrained from telling why he wanted it, and left the owners to judge for themselves; that the owners were holding the property for a high price; or that their hesitation in selling was due to prejudice and antipathy? 3. How would your judgment in case d be affected if you knew that the local people all wanted the hospital and that only the higher officials were opposed? 4. Land and property may be desired in order to make an initial start in a hostile community; or they may be needed to expand work already well established. In what way, if at all, would the principles of decision differ in these two cases? 5. Balance the relative importance of attaining a goal and of the way the goal is attained, in mission work? In affairs at home? 6. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-SUPPORT One very important component in the ideal for the rising churches on the mission field is that they should be self-supporting. In most fields this has been an ex¬ ceedingly difficult condition to establish, partly due to the very low economic condition of the people, and partly to the weakening effect of excessive initial help from 105 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES foreign sources. It is interesting to note how the original impulse towards self-support was given in various fields. a. The start in Korea. Korea is famed for progress in this regard. It is said that self-support in this land began when Dr. Underwood, in response to a deputation who wanted him to send to the rich missionary society across the seas for money for a church, went with them to the chosen site. “You want a church here, do you?” He took off his coat, went off and brought back a large stone, and then another, and another. Soon the seven church members had their coats off, and a self-support¬ ing church was begun right there. b. In Turkey. Dr. C. H. Wheeler’s great work for self-support 1 began from what seemed like a trifling incident. The Armenians had asked for a stove, which Dr. Wheeler secured for them. In getting it to the church it was broken. They sent to Dr. Wheeler a bill, not only for repairs, but for putting it up. That cured him from any pauperising programme. c. The cost of self-support in Burma. The three-fold ideal of self-government, self-support, and self-propa¬ gation, has more nearly been reached among the Karen churches in Burma than elsewhere. That it did not come of itself, but cost effort is shown in the statement of one of the early missionary leaders, E. L. Abbott.2 “I have endeavoured to substitute the churches for the mission treasury; and it has cost me more anguish of spirit, and more hours of controversy and pleading, than all the other troubles arising from our forty pastors and five thousand converts, put together. ... I suspect that I have not much sympathy in this business ; but, 1 See Wheeler, C. H., “Ten Years on the Euphrates.” 2 Carpenter, C. H., “Self-Support in Bassein,” p. 143. 106 PROBLEMS IN ECONOMICS when my brethren shall attempt to bind their assistants to the cause of Christ, to poverty and self-denial, by the truth, by cords of love and not of gold, they will then learn that I am deserving of it. . . d. Meeting a shamefaced pastor. A home mission¬ ary society in Japan was about to hold its annual meet¬ ing, and the various churches concerned were vying with one another as to which should have the best report. The pastor of one church came to the missionary of his district utterly discouraged, saying that since summer his church had collected only about twenty-eight cents. He wanted a contribution from the missionary to save them from disgrace, for it was within three days of the meeting, and though he had urged his people again and again to remember the cause, they had paid little or no heed to his words. The missionary assured the pastor that he desired to help him in every way possible, but to give money so that his church might have a good repu¬ tation was simply acting falsehood. “Well, then,” the pastor said, “I can’t go to the annual meeting; I should have no face, only shame.” “That’s just the speech to make to your people,” the missionary answered; “when they see you have shame they too will feel it.” On the day of the meeting the missionary happened to meet the pastor and asked what success he had had. “Four dol¬ lars,” he said with a glad face, and no shame. With congratulations the missionary handed him three more, as he felt the matter of reputation was no more at stake. e. Growth through responsibility. Dr. De Forest, of Japan, tells 1 of the awakening of a spirit of co-operation in the northern out-station of Migusawa where a group of some twenty-five Christians had been baptised : 1 De Forest, Charlotte, “The Evolution of a Missionary,” pp. 193-4. 107 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES “According to methods then in use, I sent them an evangelist, and his pay came from the American Board. For fifteen years, during the anti-Christian and so-called anti-foreign period, this work did not grow. It was wholly under my direction; whenever an evangelist left, I sent them another. When they asked me to send the last evangelist, I replied, ‘We have given you evangelists for over fifteen years; it is time now for you to assume responsibility and call your own evangelist.’ “ ‘We will of course do it as soon as we are able, but we cannot possibly raise any money as we are.’ “ ‘Well, then, if after we have spent hundreds of dollars in helping you for fifteen years you are unable to do any¬ thing, I suggest you go without an evangelist. You can get an occasional preaching from some passing missionary or pastor, and so keep alive until better times.’ “ ‘No, we can’t do that; we must have the man we have our eyes on. Please send him to us.’ “I urged them to pray over it, and see how much they could raise for the evangelist; and at last they pledged one dollar a month out of the ten that were needed. Knowing they would be far more enthusiastic if it were their own work, I told them I should never again send them an evangelist, but would aid them as a body of Christians to employ any one they wanted, and the full responsibility for evangelising that region should be theirs, not mine; and that I would never visit them unless they sent me an invitation. It worked like a charm. They called the man they specially wanted, and to their own surprise as well as mine, raised two dollars and a half towards moving expenses. It was not long before they were raising three times as much as they promised; and in time I was invited to the dedication of the new church they had built, that cost three hundred dollars and to which a generous friend had enabled me to contribute fifty.” /. The wisdom of large initial gifts. The Y.W.C.A. in a certain city in China was making its first drive for 108 PROBLEMS IN ECONOMICS funds. The foreign secretaries were very eager for this first drive to be a success. They knew that the obstacles were great. In the old times none of their members would have been allowed out of their homes. Even yet many husbands and fathers object to their womenfolk asking men for money. The whole conception of the drive was new to the women. The foreign secretaries in this Association had to make the decision whether in order to do as much as possible to make this initial cam¬ paign a success and to encourage the women, they would give more than one could wisely keep on giving year after year, or whether they would begin by making a modest contribution, risking failure, and thus endeavour to help them to rise to their responsibility from the first. g. A dilemma in economy. A native congregation can afford to put up only a cheap, non-durable building for a church. A structure of better, more expensive material would unquestionably be more economical in the long run. The question arises whether the missionary should help them to finance the better building, or let them sink what they do have in a less advantageous structure. h. Where to stop. In a city of North Japan there is a fine brick church, well-located. The building was erected with money raised very largely in America. The congregation using it is self-supporting, but it was either unable or unwilling to pay for fire insurance to the full extent of the building’s value. If fire should destroy the church, the congregation could not make up the loss over and above the insurance. In that case it would fall back upon the Board of Foreign Missions. Under the circum¬ stances the Board decided to pay the additional insurance. i. Calling the tune. A certain missionary attends a self-supporting church in Korea which pays all its ex- 109 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES penses from money raised from the local constituency. He was eager that a Bible woman be appointed for work in a certain centre, but the church session did not see its way to take this work on their budget. The missionary was able to make a relatively large contribution to the church. DISCUSSION 1. From these incidents, especially a to e, what would you judge some of the means of developing self-support on the mis¬ sion fields to be? 2. How would you be inclined to act in cases / to h? 3. Should the missionary, in case i, make his gift conditional upon its being used for supporting the work in which he is interested? Or shall he give his money unconditionally, and simply use moral influence in urging the importance of the opportunity for a Bible woman? Could you generalise for others the decision you have made for him? In America? In India? Under what restrictions, if any, may he who pays the piper call the tune? 110 Chapter V THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY The Christian family is an attainment. It did not come full-fledged. A consideration of the problems aris¬ ing in the effort to establish Christian standards for family life abroad will at once show the great need a missionary must have for certain general principles and for a broad historical background showing the long and varied steps by which we have arrived where we are.1 Such a background and body of principles would intro¬ duce into the decision of these perplexing questions something more than personal temperament or the mo¬ mentum of national precedents brought from another land. They would show how arbitrary standards are particularly liable to be set up when cultures cross. They ought to guard one against undue severity on the one hand or undue leniency on the other. It is easy for us of the West to be exceedingly minute in our disci¬ pline and in the multiplicity of this negative detail to lose the great positive goal. Since the family is one of society’s most vital and fundamental institutions, problems connected with mar¬ riage require serious consideration. Decisions which af¬ fect the sanctity of marriage lie at the root of social morality. We will consider several groups of problems. 1 Such a background can be obtained from such books as “Folkways,” W. G. Sumner, chapters I, IX-XI; “History of Matrimonial Institutions,” G. E. Howard (3 vols.) ; “A Social History of the American Family,” A. W. Calhoun (3 vols.). Ill CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES 1. WESTERN WEDDING WAYS UNACCEPTABLE a. Responding “yes.” There are many of our mar¬ riage customs which go against native conceptions of what is fitting. In parts of India etiquette demands that the bride shall be very shy. She may wish to be mar¬ ried, but it is part of the game to appear reluctant. In the marriage ceremony even to say “yes” may seem to go beyond her sense of propriety. Missionaries have had to coax such a girl for a half hour, trying all sorts of ways to get her to say the necessary words, even sug¬ gesting that she whisper them. We are used to the bride and groom standing up together before all. Their custom may be that the groom shall be in the men’s quarters and the bride in the women’s. The best that can be done under those circumstances is to get a “yes” from the female crowd inside. b. Shaking hands. In some of our marriage forms the bride and groom must take each other’s hand. There are parts of India where this is considered so improper that one Christian mother rebelled. She, supposing this act an essential part of the ceremony, preferred to have her daughter married by non-Christian rites. c. Use of a go-between. In many oriental countries marriages are arranged by a “go-between” and the parties concerned do not see each other until the marriage day. One missionary refused to act as the go-between for a certain couple and insisted on their talking things over together in a room by themselves, which was a shock to their sense of propriety. d. Reading bans. Some denominations require that bans shall be read for three successive Sundays before the marriage can be performed. In the mass movement 112 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY areas of India it is exceedingly difficult for these simple people to know or to understand our customs. Willing to conform to a Christian ceremony, at considerable trouble they leave their village with their wedding guests and come to the missionary’s station to be married, only to be told that they must go back and wait three weeks until the bans are read. But the day has been set, the feast is ready, the marriage company is there according to their custom. In many cases the new rule leads them to turn to a Hindu priest and be married by non-Christian rites. Practically all churches authorise only ordained men to perform marriages. Often the standard for ordi¬ nation is relatively high. As a result districts in India can be found where there has been a mass movement to Christianity and where in July and August the requests for marriage ceremonies average twenty per week, but where there are only two ordained men to respond to the needs of eight thousand converts. To perform all these marriages off in distant and scattered villages, reached by dusty and imperfect roads is impossible. Hence many go off and are married by heathen rites. e. The mother-in-law taboo. In the Congo, a man will not enter the house of his mother-in-law or eat food prepared by her. Once a Sunday service was badly disturbed because a missionary attempted to break a native custom. It happened that the chapel was crowded ; there seemed to be only one vacant seat. An African Christian came in late. The missionary pointed out the vacant seat, but the man refused to take it. The mission¬ ary again requested him to sit down, but he replied that he could not sit beside his mother-in-law. Although reminded that a Christian should not cling to this “heathen” custom it was all in vain, for the man would not take that seat. Finally, slipping past the missionary, he crowded into a seat already full. 113 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES f. The remarriage of widows. The influenza epidemic in the Telugu area in India left a very real social problem. There were hundreds of widowers seeking wives among unmarried girls. There were also hundreds of widows looking forward to perpetual widowhood. For, even though they were Christians, the old, ingrained, Hindu antipathy to the remarriage of widows had been carried over into Christianity. To remarry would go against their finest feelings. A missionary in this area, realising the social seriousness of the situation, undertook to act as go-between for several men who were willing to take widows as wives. But although he and his wife used all the tactful skill they knew in broaching the subject to each widow in turn, they were of one mind in their answer — “What kind of women do you think we are? Do you think we would do such a thing?” DISCUSSION 1. Are our Western customs merely different, or are they also superior? Inferior? Illustrate each class. 2. How widespread is the tendency to idealise behaviour in conformity with one’s own mores, and to depreciate behaviour arising out of strange standards? Make your answer vivid by several concrete instances.1 3. Sketch the procedure which in your opinion would best develop marriage customs, both Christian and indigenous. 4. Should greater emphasis be placed on behaviour, or on en¬ lightened motives to behaviour?2 Apply your answer to some definite situation. 5. In offering the Gospel to a people what would be the best way to make sure that they will think of it as a new life, and not merely as new customs? 1 Cf. Sumner, W. G., “Folkways,” pp. 13-15. 2 Cf. Allen, Roland, “Missionary Methods, St. Paul’s or Ours,” pp. 147-65. N 114 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY 2. WORKING OUT A CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE CEREMONY The educated and cultured classes in non-Christian communities are often repelled from Christianity as they see it exemplified about them, because it appears to be a Western religion, tending to denationalise its converts, and ignoring native social customs and thought. Because this constitutes a very serious obstacle to the acceptance of Christianity, missionaries find it necessary to distin¬ guish between customs which are definitely immoral or idolatrous, and those which are not positively evil, and therefore may be retained even though they differ greatly from those familiar to the West. The problem may be exemplified by the question of adapting the Hindu marriage service in India to Christian use. In Hindu life a wedding is an exceedingly important affair. Many religious and social customs centre in this ceremony, and the usage of ages makes great expenditure in this connection almost obligatory. Such expenditure is one of the most common causes of a great curse in India — debt. A wedding with its accompanying cere¬ monies and feasts goes on for days, and both before and after the event affords an absorbing topic of conversa¬ tion. A system of Christianity that is not vitally and effectively touching marriage is detached from life. Strenuous efforts, therefore, are made by missionaries and Indian preachers to see that the members of their flocks use the Christian rather than the heathen marriage ceremony. Very little effort, however, has been made to adapt the innocent elements of the indigenous ceremony to Chris¬ tian use. The more general, unimaginative practice has been to impose the Western (not to be confused neces¬ sarily with Christian) form practically without change, except in the translation of the words used. It is pos¬ sible for a busy preacher to go to an Indian village where 115 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES a marriage is to be performed, take out his little book of forms, read some more or less intelligible words, and then pronounce the couple man and wife. The whole affair may not take over fifteen minutes. After one such wedding when the preacher had jumped on his bicycle and gone away, the people, somewhat dazed, said, “We thought he came to celebrate the marriage. Why did he go away without doing it?” At the other extreme you have occasionally an effort to take over into Christianity non-Christian forms and ceremonies just as far as possible, excluding only that which is positively idolatrous. A missionary in the United Provinces has been experimenting with an adaptation of the marriage ceremony for converts from the out- castes. He encourages the boy’s people to do the pro¬ posing, only emphasising the importance of the care neces¬ sary in such matters. The missionary and the Indian preacher study the horoscope with care, and insist that the wedding date be fixed by them and not by the Hindu Pandits. Not wanting an emaciated Christian wedding, they permit plenty of dancing and music, but insist on these being pure. A marriage pole is used, covered with a Christian symbol. The relatives bow before the bride, offering their gifts with appropriate Christian words. Knotting together the garments of the bride and groom is retained as a good symbol of what is taking place. They march around the pole, now the groom leading, now the bride. The people had a custom of making a thatch over the marriage pole. The missionary instituted a gay little canopy with appropriate Scripture. This added much glory to the occasion. If the bride wishes the ring placed upon her toe, or if custom makes the part where the missionary’s presence is most needed come at four o’clock in the morning, no objection is made. He himself wears a saffron robe, and officiates seated on a mat, after Indian fashion. 116 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY In order more clearly to understand the problem con¬ fronting any one who attempts such an adaptation, let us read two paragraphs taken almost at random from twenty-six solid pages of similar detail describing the rites and customs connected with the three great divisions of an Indian marriage, viz., betrothal, which is all but irrevocable, and often takes place in infancy; the mar¬ riage proper, which takes place in childhood; and the consummation of the marriage, which takes place when the parties reach the age of puberty. “On the days appointed the following marriage pre¬ liminaries are carried out in both homes. The women, including the mother of the bride or groom, take a brass tray, or a basket, with sugar, pulse or gram (chana) and a one-wicked lamp (chirag) and go in procession to the village clay-pit. They are preceded by a Chamar beating a drum. The women sing as they go. Then they wor¬ ship the drum, marking it with red-lead (tika). They mark seven, or five, places about the pit with mustard-oil and red-lead (sindur). Seven or five women are then chosen, each of whom takes a clod of earth from one of the places so marked, and puts it into a basket. They then distribute the sugar among themselves, after which the mother carries home the seven clods of clay. From this earth is made the fireplace for the cooking of the marriage feast; and in some places the family grindstone is repaired from some of the same clay. In some places the earth is brought without any ceremony. On this day the women go to the potter’s house, with presents of grain, worship his wheel, and get the earthen pots used for furnishing the marriage pavilion and for use in the house. In this connection Burha Baba is worshipped. In some places a special pot (kalsa) is ornamented and set in the thatch. “The mamdha, mamro, or marriage pavilion, is erected on the day that the magic earth is brought home. Some¬ times the mamdha is set up on the day when the barat comes. A grass rope is made by a maternal uncle and ai7 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES hung over the doorway of the house, and sometimes a winnowing fan is hung against a doorpost. In the court¬ yard in front of the house four (in the hill country some use nine poles of the siddh tree) bamboo posts are set up and a thatch is built over them. This pavilion is large enough to seat from twenty-five to thirty persons. In some places two green bamboos are set up to support an awning of thatch which is attached to the house above the door, and occasionally but one post is used. Some¬ times five ploughs are planted to form the shed. On each side of the door earthen vessels of water are set. Into one rice, and into the other pulse, is thrown. Mango leaves are also used. Earthen lids are put upon both vessels, the necks of the jars are bound with yellow and red threads, and each is tied to a bamboo post with a rope of grass into which mango leaves are bound. In the centre of the pavilion many things are set up, but local custom determines which of these articles shall be used. A green bamboo and a plough-team are set up by five men. Under the bamboo two pice, two pieces of turmeric, two betel nuts and rice are buried. The plough- beam is worshipped — as it is set up, and the maternal aunt places her hand-impression upon the beam five times in a paste of ground haldi and rice. She also puts her hand-print upon the backs of the five men who set up the pavilion. Mango leaves and a kamgna are bound upon the plough-beam. In some places a small earthen pot, bound with grass, is attached to the beam. This pot is ornamented with crossed lines made with rice flour and turmeric. Five marks are made upon the beam with red-lead, and a brass pot, or an earthen one, is placed beside the beam. The log used to break the clods in the ploughed field is often set up also. A lamp is bound to this log.” 1 Most of the people know no more about the significance of their customs than we do about the original significance of our custom of the bride wearing a veil, or the groom 1 “The Chamars,” Geo. W. Briggs, pp. 77-8. 118 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY giving a ring, or the guests’ shower of rice . These things are just the way we do it. We would think a missionary of another religion very fussy who discouraged these things because of meanings originally connected with them. DISCUSSION 1. Recalling the reference to the twenty-six pages of detailed marriage rites and ceremonies,1 do you think that the original significance of these customs should be ferreted out and under¬ stood by the missionary? Why? 2. If you were a member of a mission, what suggestions could you give for securing this information, and making it available to missionaries and native Christian leaders? 3. What manifest gains might result from the adaptation of a brief, simple Christian marriage service? 4. If missionaries insist on the adoption of our simple mar¬ riage service as a part of the acceptance of Christianity, con¬ verts usually acquiesce. Discuss the wisdom of foregoing any possible gains from such an insistence rather than running the risk of confusing the acceptance of Christ’s way of life with the adoption of our aesthetic forms and standards. 5. Would it be wise not only to retain those factors in the indigenous ceremony which are found to be innocent in mean¬ ing, but also to endeavour to put Christian content into certain of the un-Christian rites or customs which might lend them¬ selves to such reinterpretation? Give an example of what you mean. What analogy can be found in the West? What very real dangers would accompany such an effort? 3. SUPPLANTING PARENTAL AUTHORITY The complaint is made, and sometimes with reason, that the missionary undermines parental authority. A boy who becomes a Christian often lives under such different surroundings and conditions and has such dif¬ ferent aims in life that he is almost certain to despise the authority of his father. The Christian girls also acquire new ideals. But a girl is the actual property of 1 “The Chamars,” Geo. W. Briggs, pp. 77-8. 119 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES her father, and a financial asset. The English law in some places such as India and Rhodesia rules that no girl shall be forced into a marriage against her will. Since in most instances will-power has been pretty thor¬ oughly crushed through many generations of custom and training, there are doubtless countless girls who do marry against their inclinations. Sometimes the girl has more backbone than the average and when her father tries to force her into a marriage she runs away and comes to the mission for protection. What should be the attitude of the mission in such a case? If it stands by the girl, is it not opening the door for the complaint that it under¬ mines parental authority? Should it not teach obedience to parents? Is the missionary justified in going with the girl to the nearest Commissioner and helping her in her case against the father? a. In the case of parents of the old school. A Chinese girl in a mission school became secretly engaged to a friend in a neighbouring boys’ school. Later, when she became a teacher in an out-station, her parents were ap¬ proached after the old custom by a wealthy suitor for this daughter. Papers were drawn up in Chinese legal style. But on the eve of the wedding the first fiance pro¬ tested. Unfortunately his education was not completed, and he could not as yet support her. The missionary teachers had no previous knowledge of either proceeding, but were consulted at this awkward juncture. With their respect for personality and their Western individualistic training, should they champion the first fiance? Ought they not to combat a custom which places the fate of pupils in the hands of parents, not infrequently both selfish and ignorant? On the other hand observation had shown them that the new ways were only partially understood and were apt to be gravely abused in the transition stage. Might not the better 120 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY families hesitate to send their children to mission schools if they are indirectly taught to mistrust their parents’ judgment, and to use secret means of gaining their own ends? In any case tactful guidance is necessary from those who know both the dangers involved and the limi¬ tations beyond which women may not safely, or prop¬ erly, go. b. In the case of a wicked father . Martha Masih was a little girl who had grown to be eleven years of age in a mission school. She was an unusually attractive and promising child. From the time she was five she had been in the school and had received her food, clothing, and in fact everything from the mission free of charge. Her mother, now dead, had been a beautiful Christian woman ; but the father, although a baptised man, was wicked and good for nothing. Finally for a sum of money he made arrangements for her marriage with a Muhammadan. The missionary District Superintendent wrote to the missionary in charge of the girls’ school, asking her to send the girl to a far distant school and, if possible, to keep the father in ignorance of her where¬ abouts. This the missionary in charge of the school re¬ fused to do, saying that the father had first right to his child. Martha was, therefore married into a life of misery and hopelessness. DISCUSSION 1. (a) If the missionaries in case a believe that, at this stage, parental control in the matter of marriage of educated children is often both unjust and blind, what shall they do? (b) How would you estimate the decision of the principal of one school to insist that no arrangement' be made for the en¬ gagement of any school girl or teacher without informing her, on the ground that some such plan is necessary in a transition stage ? (c) What can be said for and against substituting the Chinese pastors and officers of the local church for the principal in the 121 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES plan of the previous question: (1) When they would be likely to sympathise with all that is old? (2) When they would be reasonably open to the new? 2. After a child has been practically raised from babyhood until adolescence by the mission should the mission expect to have anything to say about the future of the child? On what grounds? This question is especially acute in the case of girls. 3. What positive Christian virtues could be emphasised in view of the possible weakening of blind obedience to parental authority ? 4. Try to decide what you would have done in the cases men¬ tioned, and the basis in principle or authority for your decision. 4. DOUBTFUL SOCIAL CUSTOMS There are many customs on the mission field which are not immoral in the narrow sense, but which are yet of doubtful expediency. They are often so interwoven with the social fabric as to make decisive and immediate eradi¬ cation difficult. a. Child betrothal. Many of the Christians from among the depressed classes in India are unable to dis¬ associate themselves from the time-immemorial custom of child betrothal. They regard this as transferable to their Christian status; and, apart from strong traditional associations, believe that it makes for the moral security of their village home life, as men are more likely to leave a betrothed girl alone. They frequently arrange these social features among themselves and appeal to the Christian preacher to give a religious sanction to the betrothal of their children. Sometimes, because of the refusal of the Christian preacher to do this, these families have reverted to their old faith, and have called on the Hindu priest to preside at the betrothal ceremony.1 l One of the large missions in India refuses to countenance such betrothals. . They do not, however, bring church discipline to bear upon the offending parties. Experienced workers are employed to travel among these communities, lecturing upon this and other prevalent social evils. 122 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY b. Bride-price. The custom of taking a dowry for the bride is very widespread. In China parents of the bride demand a certain amount, on the ground that they have been to considerable expense for a number of years and should be reimbursed when the daughter leaves. In Siam large sums are demanded from the groom in order to have a legal marriage, and if a Christian does not ask for this money according to custom, his girls are not considered to have much value. Marriage in Africa is very generally associated with lobola, a sum paid by a man to the father of his fiancee. Originally this was taken as a guarantee that the son-in-law would be faithful and kind to his wife. It may be paid in cattle, cash, or by giving a woman in exchange. Many churches have de¬ cided that no Christian may receive lobola. On the other hand there are many who feel that, even if it were possible, it would not be advisable to do away altogether with the payment of money or lobola. They would wait until Christianity and civilisation have ad¬ vanced sufficiently among the people to have substituted something which will take the place of lobola in main¬ taining proper relations between husband and wife. For, in judging of these customs, it is well for us to remember that there have been two institutions of society which have been closely conjoined and correlated all through history, namely, marriage and property. Throughout great stretches of time the position of women in matri¬ mony has been felt to depend upon no more than a transitory feeling unless it is steadied and rendered stable by a property guarantee. Hence the dowry, or bride- price. An example will show the complications which arise. Richard, a church member in Southern Rhodesia, was accused of having received lobola for his sister, who had been married to George, a native evangelist from a neigh¬ bouring mission. Richard was at once suspended from 123 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES the church, and told that he must return the lobola money to George before he could be reinstated. Some time later the two men appeared and George declared that he would not take back the money, probably fearing complications later on with the wife’s family, or that his wife would not respect a marriage in which her people had received no goods. Whereupon Richard asked to be reinstated in the church. A trial was held in order to determine under what conditions Richard might be received back. In the course of this trial it came out that some years before Richard had gone to the mines to work, had sent money home to his father for safe-keeping, and the father (a non-Christian) had spent the money in buying himself another wife. On Richard’s return the father told him that upon the sale of his sister the proceeds would go to him in return for the money which had been spent by the father. In the course of time the father died; and when the sister was married Richard received the lobola money, as above stated, in fulfilment of his father’s pledge. On the evidence as presented he was readmitted to the church and was allowed to keep the money. Did he do wrong in receiving this money from the sale of his sister under these circumstances, or was he justified in so doing? In another similar case where the groom refused to receive back the money, it was suggested by the father to whom the money had been given, that the church take the money. This, however, was not approved by the majority of the members. They did, later, consent to take the money in trust, the matter of its disposal to be settled at another time. c. Rearing a wife. Another doubtful custom prevails in certain lands where a high bride-price is demanded. A poor family may decide that they will never be able to purchase a bride for their son. Rather than see him a bachelor all his life, they either buy for very little money, 124 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY or more generally get given to him, a baby girl, which they raise in the family. The prospective bride is brought up side by side with the boy, and when the parents think them old enough, they are married. DISCUSSION 1. In the case of a custom that should be supplanted discuss the relative wisdom (a) of a firm insistence on what you regard as the better practice; (b) leaving actual practice alone, but attempting to inculcate your attitudes, so that practice will eventu¬ ally be affected from within ; or (c) guarding against instilling your own attitude, but raising the question, stimulating thought, and furnishing data so that a progressive change is natural. 2. What would you say for or against a missionary who con¬ sistently withheld all expression of opinion on native customs, even when asked, and confined himself to teaching the general principles of Christianity? 3. Should matters of doubtful expediency be settled (a) by the authority of the missionary who may know best the essence of Christianity? (b) Or by Christian leaders of the country, who may best know the degree of viciousness in a given native practice? (c) Or is there some better plan than either of these extremes? 4. To which would you give the greater weight in judging the doubtfulness of a given custom — its apparent results, or the meaning and value attached to it in the minds of the people? 5. Sometimes the remedy for prevalent marital irregularities seems to lie in better and more suitable laws. The laws for divorce of Christians may have been worked out under the influence of Western social and economic standards. The pro¬ cedure may be too difficult and prohibitive in expense for simple peasants, as is acknowledged to be the case in India. The present law for Christians in India requires six months after divorce has been granted before the decree becomes absolute; and then six more months before remarriage may take place. Owing to the social conditions which exist in India, which make it difficult for an unmarried woman to obtain an honest living for any lengthened period without being subjected to temptation, there is widespread feeling among missionaries that the law should allow remarriage after one month following the absolute decree, so that she may be able to obtain the protection by remarriage that 125 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES her situation demands. These and many other marriage ques¬ tions have been under consideration by the National Missionary Council, some of the Provincial Representative Councils of Mis¬ sions, the All-India Conference of Christians, and the South India Missionary Association. Is the giving of time and thought to the careful consideration of existing marriage laws and assist¬ ance in the formulation of memorials for change in the laws of marriage and divorce a legitimate part of missionary work? Or should missionaries confine themselves to preaching the “sim¬ ple Gospel”? Explain. 6. Illustrate the following principle : “Everything in the mores of a time and place must be regarded as justified with regard to that time and place. . . . People in mass have never made or kept up a custom in order to hurt their own interests. They have made innumerable errors as to what their interests were and how to satisfy them, but they have al¬ ways aimed to serve their interests as well as they could.” 1 In what way would such a principle tend to affect a mission¬ ary’s action with reference to a social custom of doubtful ex¬ pediency? 5. POLYGAMOUS HUSBANDS Questions of extraordinary delicacy and difficulty arise for missionaries in dealing with polygamy which is still widespread in most non-Christian lands. There is abso¬ lute agreement that Christian marriage is that of one man with one woman, and there is unanimity also in the de¬ termination to uphold this ideal among the members of the young church in the mission field. But a very real problem and difference of opinion arises in connection with those who have entered into the polygamous rela¬ tionship before seeking baptism. Many a Westerner will at once say that this is no problem at all, simply forbid it, and be done with it. But let us think of this problem in terms of actual human lives and loves. a. An aged trio. One old man, nearly eighty, asked for baptism, with his two wives, both over seventy. 1 Sumner, W. G., “Folkways,” p. 58. 126 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY Through the aid of his first wife he had made his start in life, but she was childless. With her consent and help, he married the second wife, by whom he had had several children. The three had lived together for sev¬ eral decades. Turning away either old woman meant misery to all three, and there would be no satisfactory place for the discarded wife to go. Furthermore they could afford to live together but not separately. b. A childless wife. In a small city in North India lived Abdula, a Muhammadan hakim (native doctor). He had some education and made his living by giving out native medicines, opening boils, and bleeding in the old-fashioned way. A missionary used to preach in the bazaar near his place of business, so that he heard much of the new teaching of a living Father and Saviour. He bought a Bible, came to the missionary for private in¬ struction, and finally asked for baptism. Here an obstacle was found, for, when Abdula was a small boy, he had been married according to the custom of his people. As the years passed, and his wife Zainab bore no children, he brought in another younger wife, Sahara, and soon she was the mother of a little girl, Marian. The first wife stayed on in the home, ever praying that she might have a son. She continued to be a faithful wife, caring for the old mother who was blind and crippled, looking after the baby, and helping the young mother who was never strong. She was just a household drudge, with little hope or love in her life. When Abdula told of his proposed step there was trouble, for the women had never heard of Christ. For them there was no god but Allah, and Muhammad was his prophet. Who was Christ, and why had this new teaching come? Abdula wanted to be baptised, but the missionary made it clear that he could not baptise a man who had two wives ? He must put one away, but which ? 127 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES After weeks of thought he sent his first wife away, for she had borne him no heirs, and according to Mu¬ hammadan custom that was sufficient ground for divorce. Zainab had worked hard, had tried to please him, had cared for the old mother, had nursed the delicate new wife, and had cared for the baby as though she were her own; and now, because of this new religion, she had been put out. What should she do ? There was no place to which she could go. As a result another Muham¬ madan took her in as a concubine. Abdula was baptised, as were also the old mother, Sahara, and the little girl Marian later on. Sahara developed tuberculosis, became a hopeless invalid, and finally died. In course of time Abdula met a Christian widow, who was a trained nurse, and wanted to marry her. Then the question arose, should he marry this woman, or was he bound to the first wife that he had put away so that he might be baptised ? What happened was this : Abdula married the widow, reared a family, engaged in district dispensory work, and both became zealous evangelists. c. Adding a brother's widow. Bag was a candidate for baptism in a village of the Punjab, but he had two wives who were sisters. He was a very intelligent man, and his household was one of the best ordered and dis¬ ciplined in the village. The only difficulty was the two wives. He had married the second wife, who was a widow of his brother, in accordance with the custom of the outcaste people. He was perfectly justified in doing that according to the rules of the community to which he belonged ; in fact, he did it as a duty, rather than because he chose to do so. He asked for baptism a num¬ ber of times and the missionary kept postponing the matter, not knowing what he should do. The policy of his church and the rule of his General Assembly was against baptism. He came to America on furlough, leav- 128 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY ing the case undecided. While he was in America a native preacher of another denomination came along and baptised the family. When the missionary returned to India, he found them members in good standing in his church. He was very glad that the matter had been set¬ tled in his absence. They have proved to be leading Christians in their village ever since. The fact that he had not done the baptising kept the case from becoming a precedent. d. Concubinage . In a little village in Korea there was a rich man well along in years who had, besides a wife, a concubine. He had children by both these women. This man while travelling around became very much in¬ terested in Christianity. On his return to his village, he talked it over with other leading men and they decided to ask that a preacher be sent to their village to begin church work. This rich man furnished the building in which the services were held and used his influence to get most of the people, many of whom were his tenants, to attend church regularly. When a collection was taken up for a new church building, he gave by far the larger part of the money. He seemed very earnest and zealous in his desire to do the will of God, but the churches of Korea have agreed to receive no one into their membership who has more than one wife, or who has a concubine. So this man was exhorted to provide separately for his concubine and her children and to live only with his wife. He was assured that in this way he would be admitted to church membership. This, how¬ ever, he did not see fit to do and accordingly he was never received into the church. However, he continued his interest in and support of the church until the time of his death, and both his wife and his concubine were faithful in their attendance. 129 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES DISCUSSION Missionary practice on this troublesome question is by no means uniform. In Africa wives are numbered by tens and scores. They are often little more than slaves, and in such cases there is not much unity of family life or evidence of con¬ jugal affection. Furthermore, in Africa, setting aside a plural wife does not, as a rule, involve her in hardship. They are likely to hail their freedom with joy, marry men of their own choice, and actually be improved in status. Mission practice in Africa, therefore, is almost uniform in requiring applicants for Christian baptism to lay aside all but one wife, or to remain unbaptised. In China and India, however, family life is vastly higher. In both lands, the second or third wife is often taken for the sake of male heirs, under the tremendous social and religious conviction that such an heir is essential to the welfare of the whole family. The suggestion by a barren wife that a second wife be taken is considered praiseworthy. In China a man may properly marry two wives, one for the house of his father, and one for the house of an uncle who has no son of his own. Such wives have equal footing and have equal social standing. Facts such as these make may missionaries hesitate to break up family relations, and a variety of practices has resulted. The following solutions are found: 1. Some refuse to receive, even for instruction, a candidate for baptism who is living with more than one wife. Such mission¬ aries believe that a custom which is so subversive of pure and Christian ideals of family life cannot be regarded with any toleration. 2. Many vrould receive such a candidate for Christian instruc¬ tion, but would ask him to wait for baptism until he is free from polygamous ties. One objection to this is thus stated by one of the most experienced missionaries of the Punjab, writing in 1922 : “In such cases, all will soon lapse into Islam, and so the hope of the missionary be lost.” 3. Many definitely advise the candidate to put away all but one wife, either arranging for the re-marriage of those put away, or maintaining them in a separate establishment. Thus, becom¬ ing the husband of one wife only, he is accepted for baptism. One missionary writes : “There is no reason for winking at polygamy, and every reason for drawing the ideal, scriptural line persistently against it. The man who is in earnest and under conviction can always find a way to get rid of wives, often 130 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY aided by the friendly counsel of the missionary. Not to make provision for them is to encourage adultery.” 4. Some admit the man and all his wives to church membership if they are otherwise satisfactory, openly protesting against all polygamous relationships, and reinforcing the protest by prohibit¬ ing persons thus baptised from holding any church office. Such missionaries realise that the practice of polygamy is not con¬ trary to the natural and unenlightened non-Christian conscience. While convinced that the polygamous relationship is not in accord with God’s ideal for man, they nevertheless feel that to undo this relationship when once formed, may only be adding sin to sin. It would deprive children of the protection of their fathers, or of their mothers. A wife so separated becomes a problem in herself, a temptation to the young men of the community, and in many places it would mean almost certain immorality for the rejected wife. They are inclined to regard, from a Christian standpoint, the second and third marriages to be as indissoluble as the first. In other words, they believe that they have a duty to the mores of the people concerned, and deprecate any cause which would tend to impair the validity of contracts undertaken prior to conversion.1 5. A few would baptise otherwise worthy and suitable candi¬ dates without imposing any condition. They are influenced by the considerations given in (4), and feel that there is no adequate reason for drawing a line between the privilege of church mem¬ bership and the right to hold a church office. 1 An excellent example of legislation along the line of this solution is found in the resolutions of the Synod of Chao-Hwei-Chou (one of the six Synods of the Church of Christ in China). “If the secondary wife has no children, and is willing to leave him and be married to another Christian, this may be done: but it is necessary first to consult the local Session, who shall enquire minutely, and decide the matter, so that no further wrong may be done to the woman concerned. “If this secondary wife has children, or if she is unwilling to be mar¬ ried to another, then they cannot be separated. “If for such reasons they cannot be separated, then both parties must be informed that the taking of the secondary wife was truly sinful and can¬ not be sanctioned by the Church. But as the matter is already thus in¬ volved, so that it cannot be extricated, if it appears that the man con¬ cerned is a sincere believer in the Lord, and there is no other obstacle, then the Church may receive him to Baptism, but he can never hold office in the Church. “Inasmuch as the consequences of these matters are extremely serious and are of great difficulty, therefore local Sessions must not decide them of themselves. They must first petition the Presbytery, and await the Pres¬ bytery’s minute enquiry and decision, and after sanction has been given such persons may be admitted to Baptism. “After the rite of Baptism is administered, the clergyman shall first read aloud the above seven rules, that all the members of the congregation may near for their instruction, and thereafter Baptism shall be administered in the usual form.” Cf. World Missionary Conference, Vol. 2, p. 325. 131 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES Decision in these matters lies, of course, in the hands of the native churches. But even in the older churches the judgment of the missionary has still great weight, and in the younger ones it has a formative influence. Furthermore, practice in this matter is in flux. One presbytery in China at its last meeting (1922) changed from solution (3) to solution (4). The Reference Com¬ mittee of the General Assembly of the South India United Church, ascertaining after enquiry that practice is by no means uniform within their area in the matter of baptising converts from Hinduism who have two wives, recommended in 1921 that a comparative study of this subject be made, as a basis for As¬ sembly action. Some years ago an American missionary was recalled for admitting a man and his two wives to the church, although his mission on the field stood back of him. A recon¬ sideration of this subject will likely come in every mission field. Insofar as missionaries may be called on to advise the churches on the field in these matters, they should be ready to give the most enlightened, Christian judgment possible. 6. The resultant judgment in any particular case may be the result of various considerations, such as a strict adherence to the Christian ideal, the present attitude of the people concerned, the purity of the church, the welfare of the children, fear of creating an awkward precedent, the extent to which public opinion will uphold your decision, etc. What other considerations can you add? Arrange these in two groups, viz., considerations of primary importance, of secondary importance. 7. A special report to one missionary society in 1900 recom¬ mended that “the whole question of the manner in which the application from polygamists for baptism and Church member¬ ship should be dealt with can best be decided by the Native Christian Churches in conference with the Missionaries at each station.” The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in India in 1906 resolved: “That it is not advisable to legislate, debarring from admission to the Christian Church an applicant for Baptism solely on the ground of his having more than one wife to whom he was legally married before seeking admission to the Christian Church; but that, in its opinion, it is right to leave the responsibility of deciding in individual cases as they arise with sessions.” Would you approve, or disapprove, these recommendations? On what grounds? 8. Among some tribes the union of one woman with several husbands is a recognised institution. The General Synod of the Moravian Church in 1879 passed the following resolution. “That 132 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY in exceptional cases, and only in such, polygamists may be ad¬ mitted to holy Baptism, but polyandrists in no case.” On what grounds can such a distinction be made? 9. It is by no means as easy as it might at first appear to show in any convincing way wherein polygamy is wrong. How would you attempt to do this, for example, with an African? 10. Many who adopt solution (4) have been influenced by Titus 1:6 and 1 Tim. 3:2. Look up commentaries1 on these verses and decide how far they should be decisive in your judg¬ ment. The missionary quoted in solution (3) speaks of “the ideal Scripture line.” What is the teaching of the Bible on this subject? 11. Civil law in some colonial areas has made definite con¬ cessions to the so-called “customary laws” of the people in respect to marriage and divorce. Judge the wisdom of a missionary’s accepting such civil law as a standard for native Christian practice. 12. Does church practice in the West tend to greater or to less rigidity in regard to questions of maintaining the purity of family life? Why do you think so? What bearing does this have on what your policy would be on the mission field? 13. Read over the cases given above and try to decide in each instance what in your judgment it would have been best to do. Try also to state the principles underlying your decisions. 6. WIVES OF POLYGAMISTS a. Baptism. A somewhat different problem from the preceding presents itself where a woman who is one of several wives presents herself for baptism. In her behalf it may be said that presumably she does not violate the Christian precept which enjoins fidelity to one husband; that she has not been responsible for his plural mar¬ riages; and that, even if she could leave her husband, it would almost certainly separate her children from a mother’s care. b. Voluntary return as plural wife. A non-Christian man who has a believing wife takes a second wife, 1 Cf. The Pastoral Epistles, in the Expositor’s Bible, pp. 118-29. 133 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES whereupon the believing wife leaves the husband. After a number of years the husband wants the first wife to come back and live with him. Shall she go, or not? If she goes, should she be subject to church discipline? c. Re-marriage . A secondary wife has been set aside by her husband as a condition of being received into the church. Should this wife be re-married by Christian rites as the sole wife of another man, if she so desires? d. As a Bible-woman. In a certain station in China is a Bible Training School for women. A short time ago the woman in charge of this Bible School discovered that three of the women who were training for Bible work were secondary wives. She had a most difficult problem to solve. She consulted many Chinese leaders and also a number of the missionaries, to know what she should do. As her church does not give its consent to taking men into the church who have secondary wives or concubines, would a secondary wife or a concubine be able to do a Bible-woman’s work? After much thought, discussion, and prayer, it was decided that it would be unwise to send these women out to do Bible- women’s work. Frequently they would come into houses where the subject of a secondary wife would come up, and it was felt that they could scarcely discourage the practice when they themselves were either secondary wives or concubines. e. Obligation to zvife set aside. A leading Chinese Christian had two wives before becoming a Christian. Both wives later were converted. Wife No. 2, after re¬ peated urging by her husband, agreed to separate. The annulment of his relations with her was announced in church. Years passed. The second wife felt she could not marry again, so supported herself. The first wife died. The second wife expected the man to re-marry 134 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY her, and asked a lady missionary to suggest this to him. The missionary took no action, and the man married a Chinese widow educated in America, refusing to recog¬ nise any obligation towards his previous, second wife. Non-Christians were very much shocked at this action, as were many Christians also. It was suggested that the church take the matter up. But, because of different opinions among Christians, and the high position of the man, nothing was done. His last wife has for several successive years been proposed as an officer in a Chris¬ tian organisation, but thus far has not been elected, solely because of her marital situation. f. Membership in Y. W. C. A. At the fourth Secre¬ tarial Conference of the Young Women’s Christian As¬ sociation of China in 1919 the question as to whether secondary wives should be admitted to Association mem¬ bership came up for discussion. Some in favour of admitting them argued that the Christian church in China had not come to a unanimous verdict on this subject although it was acknowledged that in most cases women are not admitted to member¬ ship in the church so long as they continued to be secon¬ dary wives. It was further urged that the more intelli¬ gent and more influential women are secondary wives, and that most of these women are in their condition through no fault of their own, since they have no personal freedom to contract or dissolve matrimonial alliances. Hence, to discriminate against them in the Association would only make their lot harder. It was acknowledged by all that there were many cases where secondary wives were really Christian women, whether they had been ad¬ mitted to the church or not, and that there was abso¬ lutely no place for them outside their husband’s homes. They could not go back to their old homes, nor could they become self-supporting. Hence, it seemed prac- 135 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES tically impossible for them to change their marital rela¬ tionship. Furthermore, public opinion in different parts of China differed greatly on this subject. In some centres, little touched by Western influence, secondary wives hold a very good social position. Secretaries realised that in such centres an adverse ruling might cause a great deal of trouble to the Association. On the other hand it was urged that the custom of having secondary wives is harmful to home life and to the position of women. While realising that refusal of Association membership to this class would necessarily work hardship upon individual women who were in this position through no fault of their own, it was urged that public opinion on this matter would not be aroused until women themselves took an attitude of strong protest on the subject. It was understood that classes, meetings, and many other privileges of the Association would be open to these women and that the secretaries would neglect no opportunity to help them. The secretaries at this conference, more especially the Chinese secretaries, felt that as a Christian organisation the Association should take a very definite stand against the custom. Hence, the decision was made that “secon¬ dary wives shall not be given membership in the Asso¬ ciation. ” g. Relation of mother. It is a custom in Africa for the mother and friends of the bride to escort her to the village of her future husband. Now the church forbids Christian women to take part in any “send-off” in which the bride is a girl who has not yet reached the age of puberty, and a Christian woman is not allowed to escort her own daughter to a polygamous marriage, as this would be interpreted as consent to the marriage. If a Christian woman is a woman of strong character she can generally persuade her husband not to marry her daugh- 136 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY ter to a polygamist, but if the husband overrules her wishes and marries her daughter to a headman, the Christian woman is not blamed if she withholds her ap¬ proval by refusing to go to the bridegroom's village, to partake of the marriage feast, and to receive the presents which the mother-in-law generally gets at such occasions. But what shall be her relation to her daughter after the marriage? There is a difference of opinion among the missionaries. It is the custom for the mother to go to her daughter at the time of the peanut harvest and help her harvest them and take a certain share home to her village; to visit her daughter when she hears that her daughter is sick or during confinement; or to take to her son-in-law a little present of peanuts, dried fish, etc., as a token of friendship, in return for which he gives her a piece of cloth, or a kerchief, or a bag of salt. Which of these things may a Christian mother do after her daughter has married a polygamist? Some missionaries say that she must not go anywhere near the village where her daughter is, and that when the son-in-law comes to visit her husband she must not cook any food for him. Her daughter, however, may come and stay with her as often and as long as she wants to. Other missionaries would not allow her to make any pro¬ longed visits in her son-in-law’s village, but would allow her to spend a night with her daughter in case a journey took her past her daughter’s village without, however, giving or receiving presents from the son-in-law. Others again believe that if the marriage once has taken place against the mother’s will, she should then be allowed to befriend her son-in-law and exchange presents and visit him as often as she likes. DISCUSSION 1. What are the arguments on each side in the various ques¬ tions raised in this section? 137 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES 2. In connection with case d consider whether the wife of a drunkard could properly be employed to speak for temperance. Wherein does this analogy fail? 3. In each of these instances try to decide what you would regard as the proper attitude and procedure.1 Try also to state the principles underlying your decision. 4. How acceptable or proper in China, India, or Japan would be the authoritative tone of the last paragraph preceding the discussion? In Africa? 7. CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE FOR THOSE PREVIOUSLY MARRIED UNDER NON-CHRISTIAN RITES Sometimes Christians who have been converted after marriage by non-Christian rites desire to receive the Christian form of marriage. For example, Majola and his wife, married in accordance with native rites in South Rhodesia, and having one child before their conversion, lived together as man and wife for seven or eight years after becoming Christians, having three more children in the meantime. For some unknown reason after all this time the idea struck them that they wanted a Christian marriage. After thought on the matter the missionary in charge of the church performed the ceremony for them, but in private, with only the required witnesses present. DISCUSSION 1. Remembering that this man and woman had been married originally by the best rites they knew at the time, that a second marriage might seem to cast reflection on them as having lived together illegally before the Christian marriage; and that it might seem to indicate that the children born before that mar- 1 Authoritative rulings are by no means uniform. The Conference of Bishops at Lambeth ruled that “the wives of polygamists may be admitted in some cases to baptism, but that it must be left to the local authorities of the church to decide under what circumstances they may be baptised.” On the other hand, the question has been up at frequent intervals, for example, in the native Presbytery connected with the United Free Church in South Africa. On every occasion the decision of the Presbytery has been against the admission of such women. The native members of Presbytery were more decided in opposing than the foreign missionaries. Motion for admission came in all cases from the foreign missionary. 133 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY riage were illegitimate; what procedure would appear to be best? 2. What objection, if any, should be made to performing a Christian marriage ceremony, provided it takes place immediately on conversion and entry into the Christian church? 3. The Transvaal Missionary Association, in 1912, passed the following resolution : “That natives or coloured people who have contracted marriages according to native custom, but who on becoming Christianised desire to get such marriages celebrated and registered as Christian and monogamous, have such desire granted.” What objection, if any, could there be to such a practice? 4. What would you think of meeting this need by arranging a new service, not of marriage, but of Christian blessing? 8. MIXED MARRIAGES Considerable difference of practice exists as to the extent to which marriages between Christians and non- Christians are permitted.1 Permission for such a mar¬ riage may be still further complicated by the insistence on the part of the friends of the non-Christian partner that there must be a marriage by non-Christian rites as well. a. “ Calling in” a non-Christian. A poor widow with no near relatives to care for her, and with a child to support, “called in” a man as a second husband. When a man is “called in,” he pays over no money for the wife, and the woman does not have to give up the child to the relatives of her former husband. The woman was a member of the church. The man was a coolie in the mis¬ sion hospital, attended church but was not a member or a professing Christian. The Chinese church blamed the woman for marrying a non-Christian, decided she should be disciplined, and suspended her for a year. b. A last resort. One of the teachers in a mission boys’ school was a fine, young, well-educated man; but 1 See World Mission Conference, 1910, Vol. 2, pp. 105-9. 139 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES his mother had a fiendish temper. When he wished to get married he could get no Christian girl to marry him, because in China, a bride is brought to her husband’s home to live. Modern Christian girls are not now mar¬ ried without their consent, and they all feared the mother’s disposition. An elder brother’s wife was so unhappy and ill-treated that the situation was not en¬ couraging. As a consequence he married a non-Christian girl, with no education at all, whose consent was not asked. However, her family had money and influence so that the mother-in-law was afraid to treat her badly. She began to attend the girls’ school, learned to read the Romanised colloquial and is quite promising. His church disciplined this teacher for marrying a non-Christian girl. If the teacher had come to you for advice before his marriage, what would you have said? c. A conflict in judgment. A young Christian in Africa became attached to a girl in the district where he was teaching. The work was new and only a few men and no women had entered the church during the first few years. After a time the teacher wished to marry this girl. He brought the matter to the missionary who, after considering the circumstances, advised marriage even though the woman was a non-Christian. She had little chance of becoming a Christian in the environment where she was. They married, but on returning to his local church he found that it had put him under disci¬ pline for three months. To be thus counted unworthy by his brethren seemed to him to be one of the great hardships of his life. DISCUSSION 1. How far do you feel there is specific and sufficient Biblical guidance with respect to these matters? What other standard, if any, can be brought to bear? To what extent is Paul’s advice 140 THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY to the early churches binding for missionary practice to-day? For American pastors? 2. Many mixed marriages result from betrothals in childhood. These betrothals are as a rule considered as binding as the actual marriage ceremony, and to break a betrothal in China, for ex¬ ample, would be considered a great wrong. Where one party has become a Christian after betrothal, should the church give its blessing on the consummation of the marriage? What objection, if any, could there be to the church’s disciplining all Christian parents who deliberately betroth their children to non-Christians, and allowing all mixed marriages where the betrothals took place before one of the principals became a Christian? 3. Should the prohibition of mixed marriages be absolute? Or should permission be made dependent upon a strong proba¬ bility of the non-Christian partner being won to Christianity in due time? 4. A missionary to India makes the following statement : “I have strenuously maintained in Synod and other ecclesiastical meetings that Christian ministers ought to be allowed to per¬ form marriage ceremonies regardless of whether one or both of the parties were members of the church or not, just as ministers at home do. I have always felt that the right of people to get married is an inalienable one and that it is in no wise conditional on our faith.” What is your conception of marriage and the relation of ecclesiastical sanctions to it? 5. Try to formulate one or more principles that would guide a missionary in advising a young church in this matter. 6. In the light of this chapter would you judge that church discipline in the West is more or less active than on the mission field? Should it be? Why? 7. Jesus certainly expected his followers to rise above popular standards. Did he place more emphasis on conduct or on atti¬ tudes underlying conduct (Matt. 5:21-48; Mk. 7 : 1-23) ? How would his teaching affect your attitude to the problems of this chapter? 8. How have the discussions of this chapter affected your idea of the kind of preparation a missionary should have before going out to other civilisations? Of the desirability of adequate and informed investigation as a basis for some kind of agreement among the Christians of a given area as to the standards for which they will press? 141 Chapter VI SUNDAY OBSERVANCE 1. OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY BY NON-CHRISTIANS a. Lumber hauling. Lumber was being hauled from the mountains in north China to a mission compound. The noise of unloading was a great disturbance on Sun¬ day. On inquiry it was found that the trip required sev¬ eral days and that the non-Christian contractor had few animals. It seemed impossible therefore to refuse en¬ trance into the compound or to forbid travel on Sunday without causing much annoyance, loss, and uncertainty. It was felt by the missionaries to be more humanitarian to allow the contractor and his muleteers to continue their ordinary occupation on Sunday, than to attempt to revolutionise their mode of life for the few days and weeks during which they were at work. b. Lathe work. In Baranagore, India, is a remark¬ ably successful modified apprentice school, very largely the result of the faith and singleness of purpose of an Indian Christian by the name of Amrito. When still a workman in a Calcutta shop, the need of industrial training for eighteen orphan boys in a Converts’ Home near by, enlisted his heart and will, and he undertook to start a school for them. For two years he laboured unceasingly to make the school self-supporting. Instead of the high wage he had been getting he took only Rs. 10 per month for two years 142 SUNDAY OBSERVANCE while the establishment was getting under way. Accord¬ ing to custom, he had already purchased jewelry for a future bride. But this he brought to the missionary ad¬ visor, “for of course I will give up all thought of mar¬ riage until the school gets on its feet.” After several years he did marry, and for thirteen years he lived in a small mud house — this skilled mechanic who could have made three or four times as much in the open market any day. Early in his work of developing the school a Hindu friend, who worked in the Government plant from which Amrito had come, wanted to show his interest, and offered to come every Sunday and use the big lathe in Amrito’s shop, giving all the product to the school. Sunday was his only leisure time, for he was work¬ ing in the shops six days a week. Although desper¬ ately pressed for funds, Amrito refused the proffered help. c. Farm work. A certain wealthy Korean Christian comes to church and tries to observe Sunday as a Chris¬ tian. But he has many farm hands who are not Chris¬ tians, and who are allowed to work on Sunday. d. Rented shops. The President of a mission college, in order to make a profitable investment of the college endowment, built a line of shops in the foreign conces¬ sion of a port city. Behind the shops were small resi¬ dences. Being in a good location, both shops and houses were in demand. In course of time requests for leases were made by those who wished to use portions of the property for immoral purposes. All such requests were refused. Non-Christian shop-keepers wanted to keep their shops open on Sunday. This, at first, was per¬ mitted, until complaint was made by certain fellow- missionaries. Thereafter a clause was put in each lease 143 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES according to which the renter agreed to close his shop on Sunday. But it was exceedingly difficult to enforce this, for non-Christian public opinion and practice was against this restriction. Furthermore, household industries were carried on in some of the residences. In such cases con¬ ditions of labour and Sunday observance could not be checked without house to house inspection, and no one has insisted on this. e. Contractors. Missionaries very often have to make decisions with reference to Sunday work when non- Christian contractors are employed to erect mission build¬ ings. They and their workmen have no Sunday tradi¬ tion. Often the workmen are dependent on their daily wage and would feel aggrieved if they were deprived of one day’s pay each week. As a result, the contractors usually insist on payment for Sunday, even if no work is done. In a particular case in Japan, where a mission school building was being erected, the cost was increased by $150 by insisting on no labor on Sunday. The similar increase for a certain mission building in China was $375 gold. Very often the workmen who have been released from their tools gamble the whole day or get drunk with consequent irregularity on Monday. Some missionaries in these circumstances preach a sermon to the workmen, but they find it impossible to occupy all the time of the workmen in a wholesome way. The helpful use of the workmen’s time was made the project for the students in one mission college. Sometimes the contractor puts them on other work for the day. f. Church repairs. A Japanese church, entirely self- supporting, made a contract for repairs which went on just the same on Sunday. The services were held tem¬ porarily in the chapel, and the church officers came a little early in order to supervise the work. When the 144 SUNDAY OBSERVANCE senior elder was asked why work was not discontinued, he said, “Yes, it is a pity, but working on Sunday is an old Japanese custom which it is very hard to break.” DISCUSSION 1. What helpful parallels can be drawn from the Christian experience or practice of the West? 2. Is the cost of Sunday observance by non-Christians in case e, or the increased running expenses of a mission institu¬ tion due to refusal to buy on Sunday (see case f, p. 144) a legiti¬ mate use of funds raised for missions? What considerations enter into your judgment? 3. What would you say regarding the position of one who holds that these problems are settled at once by the authority of the fourth commandment? 1 4. Suppose that you did not have the time, strength, or re¬ sources which would enable you to give instruction or otherwise profitably organise the spare time of the workmen on Sunday. Balance in that case the arguments for and against insisting on . their stopping work on mission property. 5. Should the non-Christian workmen, freed from labour, be compelled to come to instruction and Christian teaching, if pro¬ vided, as a condition of receiving pay for Sunday? To begin with, or always? Would compulsion or non-compulsion be the surer in the long run? More in accord with the principles of democracy? More after the spirit of Christ? 2. OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY BY CHRISTIANS 2 Testimony such as the following is not infrequently given by missionaries who have faced what seemed like insuperable obstacles. “The strict practices in the early years of the mission have strongly impressed upon the minds of the Chinese Christians the necessity for a due observance of the Lord’s Day. Even in cases where such observance seemed at first sight to be extremely difficult, 1 Cf. Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, article “Sunday.” 2 For supplementary reading see Gibson, J. Campbell, “Mission Prob¬ lems and Mission Methods in South China,” pp. 279-82. 145 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES those who were really in earnest always found it possible to keep the sanctity of the day unbroken.” In South India it has been said that “Hindu masters will excuse their labourers from work on Sunday if the principle is once established that this is a part of the Christian re¬ ligion.” “We have had some wonderful examples in Egypt of men giving up their service or refusing to work on Sunday, and being blessed wonderfully in their own lives.” “It is noticeable that those who do sacrifice to observe the Sunday and close their shops have a stronger leadership and richer experience.” On the other hand there are many missionaries who do not feel justified in insisting on an immediate and sweeping change. They would admit that sacrifice in obedience to conscience unquestionably brings inspiration, but question whether the actual conditions of develop¬ ment among the people permit one to set up a particular standard of Sunday observance as the occasion of the sacrifice. A few cases will illustrate the problem. a. Open shops. A group of members of a certain church in China, after long discussion on the subject of Sunday observance, decided to make an attempt to close their shops on Sunday. In many parts of China this is a particularly difficult problem for Christians. Competi¬ tion is keen and margins small. In many cities few among the non-Christian business men even know about the Christian attitude to Sunday. To close one’s shop on Sunday may mean not only the loss in sales, but the ill will of business men who often come long distances at considerable inconvenience in order to transact their affairs on Sunday. Such men would have little patience with the new idea and would resent being inconvenienced by the Christian’s Sunday observance. To help meet this situation, this little group of Chris¬ tians had signs painted explaining the owners were Chris- 146 SUNDAY OBSERVANCE tians and were not doing business on Sunday. Each of the Christians willing to make the attempt was given one of these notices with the understanding that the notice board was to be returned to the church committee in charge of the plan in case the individual gave up the effort. Ten or twelve notices were accepted by shopkeepers. Some kept them several months, and some over a year ; but with few exceptions the notices were all handed back within two years. In most of these shops the owners had given Sunday observance an honest trial and found that it meant either failure in business or closing up their business before failure. b. Open shops. Mr. Wang in the Province of Szech¬ wan, China, became an enthusiastic Christian. He closed his shop on Sundays for a time. Later he found, in order to keep his employes and many of his regular customers, he would have to allow one of his managers to take charge of his shop for Sundays or suffer great financial loss. The church came to his assistance and undertook to pay the employes their Sunday wage if Mr. Wang would bear the loss of Sunday business until his business was well established. In this particular case the results were satisfactory and after a year’s time Mr. Wang’s shop was closed every Sunday. He took over the responsibility of paying the employes for Sun¬ day, with the understanding that they would attend church. c. Worship in the store. Three large department stores in Canton are owned by Chinese Christians. They are kept open on Sunday. They close, however, for a Christian service held in each store Sunday morning, and have a Bible Class for their employes Sunday eve¬ ning. 147 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES d. Field labourers. A group of simple, village, Chris¬ tian women who had been outcastes originally and who did field work for Hindu farmers, having been taught that the fourth commandment was obligatory for them, decided that they would try not to work on Sunday. They went to their employer and asked to be released, saying it was the Christian day of worship. He pointed to the tobacco crop and how it would spoil if attention was not given to it. So they worked. One suggested that they have a word of prayer the next Sunday before they started to work. This they did and kept up the practice for several Sundays. One day the farmer said, “You need not work to-day. Go to your worship, and here is a rupee as a contribution.” Release on Sunday was obtained from four farmers for whom they worked that summer. Successes such as these lead many to strengthen as far as possible the rigour of Sunday ob¬ servance in pioneer areas. e. Fishing. At the mouth of a river in the Kamerun, Africa, there is a small species of fish, not larger than a small sardine. These appear in large schools near the beach and are easy prey to the native women, who wade out two by two with a piece of cloth between them which they use as a seine. The sight of one of these schools is always a cause of great excitement and re¬ joicing among the native women, who see in it an easy means for providing their husbands with a great delicacy. A Christian wife of an unbeliever would be considered very negligent if she did not join the crowd of happy fishers on week days, though on Sunday her husband would not require it from her. During a time of food scarcity a Christian woman heard the signal and, thinking only of the meagre rations on which her family had to live, went out with the merry crowd on Sunday after¬ noon and gathered a nice mess of fish. Before the next 148 SUNDAY OBSERVANCE communion service the usual meeting of the church ses¬ sion was held and the case of this woman’s fishing on Sunday was brought up for discipline. The missionary in charge was asked what he thought of it. He said that he considered the fish a godsend, and could not blame the woman for taking the food Providence had sent for her family. The elders were in favour of de¬ barring the woman from the Lord’s table. They finally decided to let her go after an exhortation to keep the Sabbath day holy. If it had not been for the missionary and the exceptional need of food, the woman would have been debarred. /. Marketing. There is a very old, ingrained custom in the Philippines and parts of Latin America of having recurring market days, some of which fall on Sunday. In some interior stations the Sunday market is an im¬ portant event in the community. More and cheaper prod¬ ucts may be had on this day than on any other. It is the time to get fresh fruits and vegetables at their best. In fact, some things can hardly be secured except on this day. Certain missionaries have been known consistently to do without a given product week after week, rather than to buy on Sunday. A mission boarding school re¬ fused to buy on that day, in spite of the economic dis¬ advantage and loss in mission funds. g. Barber’s work. A Japanese woman became a Christian. She is a women’s barber, and Sunday is her busy day. She would like to rest and observe the day, but she would lose customers and might be run out of business. She solves the problem by explaining the mat¬ ter to her customers and asking them to come only on week days. In cases where they do come on Sunday, she arranges their hair, but gives the entire proceeds to Christian work. 149 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES DISCUSSION 1. “No man should be required or encouraged to work on Sunday except for the benefit of a large number.” Give illustra¬ tions of ways in which public opinion in the West seems to accept this principle. Ought it to be applied to any of the cases of this section? 2. Usually a positive suggestion leads to more growth than a mere negation. What suggestions of an educative character can you suggest for any of these cases? 3. What would you say to a person who tried to persuade you that a missionary in practice must make his start from the standpoint of his parish and its needs, rather than from his creed or his conception of the Christian ideal? 4. The World Missionary Conference in 1910 1 enunciated the following principle : “The question of the due observance of the Lord’s Day, in so far as that observance is regarded under the aspect of rest from labour, is one which must surely be considered in relation to the social conditions of each country and circumstances of the Chris¬ tian converts. In China, for example, while the helpfulness of a sincere spiritual observance of the day is generally taught, and those Christians who are in an independent position are ex¬ pected, if not required, to refrain from business on that day, it would be unreasonable to exercise general discipline on the subject; especially in the case of persons in subordinate positions, who are not masters of their time.” Such a principle seems necessary because of the extreme dif¬ ficulty of securing proper Sunday observance for Christians submerged in a non-Christian community. Christians are often poor, dependent on their day’s wages, and serve under non- Christian employers who pay no regard to Sunday. Small traders are involved in the system of market days. Farmers feel that they must take their turn in rotation in using the village system of irrigation. Rice transplantation has to be done rapidly while the field is flooded. Hence the cultivators usually work in groups, now on one man’s land, now on another’s. If a Christian drops out on Sunday this makes trouble. Other joint projects with non-Christians, such as crushing sugar cane during the sugar harvest, cannot easily be stopped on Sunday. The Government may be Muhammadan, as in Egypt, observing Friday as a holiday instead of Sunday, and many Christians are employed in its l Vol. II, “The Church on the Mission Field,” p. 100. 150 SUNDAY OBSERVANCE service. In the light of these considerations, how would you criticise the principle enunciated above? 5. As a matter of policy, would it be better to stress a con¬ structive, positive, spiritual conception of Sunday as a day of opportunity, leaving complete cessation from work to be an attainment as the people gain in ability to use the day in higher ways? That is, should one depend on the slow processes of education and spiritual enlightenment? Or should one strike right across the economic and social customs of the land from the very beginning, securing through discipline obedience to a series of prohibitions, even before the spiritual use of the day is understood or while the people are still illiterate ; or while the available Christian literature is still most inadequate?1 In other words, what is the place of insistence on legal obedience in the process of developing a free, voluntary observance of the day? What guidance, if any, could be obtained for this problem from Matt. 12 : 43-45 ? The Orient is a great place for precedents. When a custom has once been started in one way, it is often hard to make a change. How would the tendencies due to habit and precedent affect your policy? 6. The Jews in the Dispension were distinguished from Gen¬ tiles by two outstanding things — circumcision and Sabbath ob¬ servance. On the other hand, the early Christians were distin¬ guished from other citizens of the Empire by their moral lives and their love for one another. In fact, reference to a religious use of Sunday occurs only three times in the New Testament.2 Paul could by no means be said to be enthusiastic over the use of fixed days,3 but was tremendously in earnest that his fol¬ lowers should give up lying, fornication, and stealing, and be clothed upon by Christ. What would you like the distinguishing features of modern Christians on the mission field to be? State as clearly as possible for what you would be glad to see them making great sacrifices, if necessary. 3. THE PROBLEM FOR ILLITERATE AND UNCULTURED CHRISTIANS Where the Christians are poor, illiterate, and possess few resources within themselves, the use of Sunday is 1 One church, for example, under the influence of the missionary, ex¬ communicated an elder for selling a mule on Sunday. Another church excommunicated a farmer for ploughing on Sunday. 2 Acts 20 : 7 ; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10. 3 Rom. 14:5-6; Gal. 4:9-11; Col. 2:16-17. 151 A CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES especially perplexing. There is danger of Sunday’s be¬ coming a hollow day, rather than a holy day. a. Darning stockings. A missionary in China found a woman darning stockings on Sunday and rebuked her for working on that day. The missionary was somewhat baffled by the humble reply of the woman, who said that she could not read, had nothing to do, was “bored to ex¬ tinction,” and thought it better to darn stockings. b. Use of leisure. Somewhat similar is the case of a Chinese farmer who comes regularly every Sunday to church some miles from his home. He cannot read or write. Sunday afternoon he returns to his home and goes out on his farm to work. In the absence of more constructive, practical suggestions, the option before this man is to go home and sit idle, to chat with his non- Christian fellow villagers, which could hardly help him in his Christian life and which would likely lead to gam¬ bling, or to continue his practice of working. c. Church erection. John Hyde de Forest, a greatly honoured and respected missionary to Japan, describing the efforts of a village group to build their own church,1 wrote : “The Christians are going to spend Sundays in the woods cutting down trees and floating the timber down the river to the new church ! It’s the Lord’s house, to be built by labour on the Lord’s day ! I thought it a fine idea of the uncultured Christians to consecrate their time and money this way.” DISCUSSION 1. In such cases should judgment be based on some absolute standard? Or should it be a relative' matter — whether what the people will actually be doing under the new Sunday ideals will 1 De Forest, Charlotte B., “The Evolution of a Missionary,” p. 215. 152 SUNDAY OBSERVANCE be better or worse than the old way of spending the day in work? In other words, is a correct relative judgment sufficient basis for decision? Show the bearing of your answer in a par¬ ticular case. 2. What practical suggestions can you give as to how such people could participate, individually or collectively, in efforts for the social, moral or spiritual betterment of their neighbourhoods or communities? What relation should there be between the provision of leadership in such activities and instruction re¬ garding the duty of cessation from labour? 3. To what extent is the possibility of our high, evangelical standard of Sunday observance dependent upon our having a high educational and economic standard? 4. GAMES ON SUNDAY a. Off the campus. The final baseball game of a national championship series in Japan is to be held on Sunday. Preliminary victories make the club of a Chris¬ tian school one of the two between whom the contest should occur. The authorities of the school find it diffi¬ cult to know what attitude to take. The question is affected by the fact that most of the players are not living in the dormitories, but are day pupils, and so not under close supervision. Some want the club to play under an assumed name. But to play under the school name is the only way it can contend, since it was thus that the preliminary victories were won. Others hold that the club should have been forbidden to play in the earlier games, anticipating the possibility of the rise of this problem. b. On the campus. The students in a certain mission college in China are permitted to play ball games on their own grounds on Sunday. c. Combating bull fights. Bull fighting is still very popular in Mexico and Peru. It is so strongly entrenched 153 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES that many missionaries do not try to oppose it, feeling that their opposition would do little good and that they have more urgent things to do. One missionary in Peru, however, assisted by contributions from an American friend, began a campaign against the custom in his Prov¬ ince. Hand bills and open letters in the newspapers were used and, as a climax, he rented a theatre and put on a free, illustrated lecture at the same hour as the bull fight. This involved using the theatre and machine on Sunday. As a result of the campaign a conscience on the subject is being aroused, and the commercial promo¬ tion of fights is becoming less profitable. When the city council’s committee on patriotic celebrations were arrang¬ ing for the annual official bull fight, they acknowledged that such a fight is not an ideal spectacle, but they did not know what else to put on to amuse the people. d. Cock fighting. In the Philippines cock fighting is the favourite sport. It is legal only on Sunday. To lead the people away from this sport, baseball was introduced, and this has succeeded in drawing a great many people away from the cock pits. DISCUSSION 1. In what way, if any, does case b differ in principle from case a? 2. What is your judgment as to the wisdom of the following principles of Sunday observance ? 1 (a) “Forms of outdoor recreation which contribute to bodily vigour, which are truly recreative, and which can be carried on in a way that does not disturb others may well be encouraged by the association, such, for example, as hikes into the country, and in some countries tennis and outdoor handball. The association should not participate in nor encourage popular athletic meets where there are large numbers of spectators, nor in any case competitive games that are commercialised or professionalised, 1 Extracts from a report on Sunday observance presented at a meeting of the various National Secretaries from the foreign fields, held by the Y. M. C. A. in New York in 1919. 154 SUNDAY OBSERVANCE nor should it allow its members to enter such competitive games as an association group nor as individuals representing the asso¬ ciation. (b) “Activities should be stimulated in the building; such as reading circles, addresses, good music, groups for the study of social and religious problems, social meetings, strangers’ teas, fathers’ and sons’ meetings, groups for Bible study, committee meetings, and meetings for fellowship and prayer. (c) “Service that is not so feasible on other days should be carried on ; for example, visits by groups to hospitals, prisons, immigrant hotels, institutions for the blind and deaf and dumb, orphanages, etc. ; also investigation of the individual or collective participation in efforts for social, moral or spiritual betterment in the respective neighbourhoods or in the community as a whole, with a view to interesting the members in humanitarian under¬ takings and stimulating them to take part in them.” 5. THE TIME LIMITS FOR SUNDAY In Egypt and some parts of the Near East, the day begins with sundown. Sunday, therefore, is considered as beginning Saturday evening, and many evangelical churches keep Sunday from sunset to sunset. Although the missionary may hold to his Western ideas and con¬ duct a service in English on Sunday evening, he usually also attends the services in the native church, when these are held on Saturday evening as in the larger cities of Egypt. Often, however, the Egyptians celebrate their wedding ceremonies on Sunday night. To these, mis¬ sionaries are frequently invited and they may wish to attend. DISCUSSION 1. Should the missionaries adhere to the Eastern or Western reckoning of the day? Or to both? Or would the proposed attendance at weddings be admissable in either case? 2. In a Muhammadan country, where the holy day is Friday, what reasons would you give for refusing to utilise this day as the Christian day of rest and worship? 3. After reviewing the problems and discussions thus far, try to draft a set of principles, as clear and complete as possible, 1 55 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES which could guide one in the ideal use of Sunday.1 In what way, if any, would the principles for children differ from those for adults? For Western Christians, from those for a young church on the mission field? 4. What effect has the discussion of this chapter had on your idea of the kind of a missionary that should be sent abroad? 1 Consult Luke 13:10-17; 14:1-6; Mk. 1:21-34; 2:23-28; 3:1-6; and Hastings, “Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics,” Vol. 12, p. 110. I 156 Chapter VII DECISIONS WITH REFERENCE TO BAPTISM 1. THE TIME AND CONDITIONS OF BAPTISM a. Parents opposing. A Japanese twenty-two years old, is studying in a medical school. He has become a Christian at heart and thinks he should be baptised. His parents, however, will not consent and there is danger that he will be disinherited if he persists. This would practically end his medical course. b. Facing disinheritance. A Hindu boy aged nine¬ teen has attended a mission school for several years and showed deep interest in the life and teachings of Christ. He has gained a good knowledge and appreciation of the Bible and is trying to apply Christian teachings to his own life. He is now a freshman in a mission college. He has asked the misionary in charge to baptise him. The boy’s father is a prominent and proud Hindu, and his mother is very conservative. The boy is betrothed to a girl whose father has promised a large dowry that would be useful in paying off the family debts. If he became a baptised Christian, his father would not only disinherit him but also probably try to poison him. The mission could not guarantee the young man support or employment. c. Conditions of baptism. A young woman had been listening to the words of a Bible-woman, and to her neighbour who was a church member. Her mother-in- 157 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES law was much displeased at her for going so often to listen. When her baby boy died, the husband and mother-in-law declared it her just punishment for such foolishness. It was at such a time of sorrow and per¬ secution that this young woman learned to pray and got great peace and comfort from her new-found faith. She applied for membership, but was refused, because she did not know the commandments, the Apostles’ Creed and the life of Christ. d. Mixed motives. In a paper on the mass movement toward Christianity in the Punjab 1 the following com¬ monly accepted judgment occurs: “It was not solely and purely a spiritual movement. Worldly motives did operate. The low castes saw that by becoming Christians they would be raised in the social scale. They saw that their brothers who had become Christians received education for their children and that their houses were better in every way. They saw that they would have the missionary to help them in their differences with their tyrannical masters. They were not slow to recognise that with the aid of the missionary they would be more likely to get their wages from employers who often dismissed them without remuneration. But to say it was wholly and solely an ethnic movement would be as wide of the truth as to say it was fully a spiritual movement.” e. What is essential. A simple old woman who lived in one of the hundreds of Indian villages had never had any idea of God except what she had gained from the idolatrous teachings and practices which were all about her. She had never committed anything to memory in all her life, and the one thought of her life was to work hours enough to keep from starvation. A Christian l Report of the Mussurree Conference, 1909, p. 56. 158 \ DECISIONS WITH REFERENCE TO BAPTISM catechist had come to her village and at night when the work of the day was over had taught the people the Lord’s Prayer. She had listened to the explanations and after much effort she had committed to memory the first clause, “Ai hamare Bap jo asman per hai” (Our Father who art in heaven). It had opened to her an entirely new world of thought and imagination and hope, and had satisfied her hungry heart. She had heard the ex¬ planations, and now, instead of going to a dead idol, she prayed to a living, loving God, who was her Father. What more did she want? It had satisfied all her long¬ ings for this life and the next, and in the newness and freshness of these great and wonderful truths the poor old soul was having in her humble village a heaven on earth. “Our Father who art in heaven” was all she could recite before the catechist, but when he pressed her to go on and learn the next clause, “Hallowed be thy name,” she took no interest. When pressed hard, out of the simplicity of her new faith and the joy of her heart, she answered, “Kya zarurat hai?”, that is, “What is the necessity ? What more do I want ?” 1 f. Intellectual and spiritual qualifications. The fol¬ lowing is a statement from India concerning the condi¬ tions for baptism : “Before we receive by baptism one of these groups, we require that certain conditions be met. All heathen shrines in the mohalla, or caste ward, have to be torn down by the people themselves and every symbol of idolatry destroyed before we baptise any one. Every chutia — tuft of hair left long on the crown of the head by means of which the soul is believed to be drawn from the body after death, and which is an ever present symbol of Hinduism — is cut off, and every charm and every symbol of idolatrous worship on the necks and arms of l Adapted from Warne, Frank W., “India’s Mass Movement,” p. 10. 159 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES the women and children are removed before baptism. The chaudhries are required to promise for the mohalls, and each individual for himself, that heathen shrines will not be rebuilt in their mohalla, and that there will be in it no more heathen rites of worship. Each individual is definitely asked before receiving baptism, ‘Do you cheer¬ fully accept baptism and promise to obey and receive Jesus Christ as your Saviour ?’ Each one professes to have accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. Each individual is asked, ‘Are you willing to suffer persecu¬ tion?’ And all clearly understand that persecution is in¬ evitable. They answer, ‘Yes, I will endure persecution.’ Each one is asked, ‘Will you give to the support of the work of sending the gospel to others?’, and an affirma¬ tive answer is given. No one is baptised who has more than one wife. “The amount which they are required to know con¬ cerning Christian teaching before baptism varies. To have simple villagers memorise before baptism the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Apostles’ Creed, we have always had as an ideal, but we have found it very difficult to attain. Yet we hold to the idea of their being acquainted with that teaching and also having a knowledge of the story of Christ’s life, with particular reference to His incarnation, crucifixion, resur¬ rection, and ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and when they know enough about these things to be prepared to comply with the conditions, we con¬ sider them suitable candidates for baptism.” 1 DISCUSSION 2 1. With reference to cases a and b, how would you criticise the following possible procedures: (a) Refraining from reporting to the parents the determination to be a Christian, and putting off baptism until the completion of one’s educational course is assured? (b) Frankly telling one’s parents that the inward l “India’s Mass Movements” — a pamphlet by Bishop Frank K. Warne, pp. 9-10. 2Assistance will be found in the World’s Missionary Conference, 1910, Vol. 2, pp. 42-9. DECISIONS WITH REFERENCE TO BAPTISM change they dreaded had already taken place; but that — out of deference to them, baptism or the outward symbol of the change would be postponed, if they so insisted, (c) Secret baptism at once. (d) Public baptism after having duly informed the parents. 2. With reference to case b, where should the baptism be ad¬ ministered? In his village, at the school, at the college, or some place where he will not be known? Should the boy be protected from kidnapping by special measures? Afterward where should the boy live? Suppose as a result of the baptism his father disinherits him, what can be said for and against assistance being given to him by the mission or missionaries in order to enable him to continue his college course? Would the question be af¬ fected by the nature of the assistance offered? How so? 3. What costs comparable to those suggested in a and b would a Christian in the West have to pay who seriously started out to live by Jesus’ standards? What is the place of cost in disciple- ship (Mk. 8:27; 9:50)? 4. A particular course of action may present the most educa¬ tive moral issue to the candidate. Should this be determinative in the decision? If not, what other factors may properly be considered in such a decision? 5. Should baptism be considered the beginning or the end of the process of acquiring Christian attitudes and conceptions? If neither extreme, toward which would you be inclined to lean? 6. In examining a candidate for baptism one may emphasise the acceptance of ideas and intellectual formulations of belief. Or one may emphasise evidence of love and fellowship, of good will toward fellowmen, the organisation of right purposes, the desire to witness to the new way, or other signs of a new life. Toward which of these extremes would you be inclined to lean (a) in the case of simple folk with undisciplined memories? (b) in the case of the average, intelligent person? 7. In dealing with a backward people, are we at liberty, with the Christian standards given us in the Gospels, to accept com¬ paratively low forms of motive in the first instance? Do mo¬ tives that appear low to us, appear equally low to them? 8. When a movement toward Christianity has once begun through the definitely religious conversion of two or three quite exceptional men, it is often possible to go on and baptise a whole group who have little religious conviction, but who are will¬ ing to follow the example of their leaders. What can be said 161 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES for and against accepting such? In other words, if the people in a mass movement area have been used to acting as a group, what can be said for and against not requiring each of the group to come up to the standard before being baptised? 9. Compare the questions asked of an adult receiving baptism in your church with the conditions in f. Has the tendency of missions been to set higher or lower standards of admission than in a Western church? Why? 2. HARBOURING AND ASSISTING RUNAWAYS In some countries missionaries are faced with very difficult situations arising out of the desire of young people to be baptised against the will of their parents or other guardian. A missionary is charged with kid¬ napping, unless the person in question is over age; and although it may be known that this is the case, it may not be possible to prove it where non-Christian public opinion is aroused and where false witnesses can be bribed for a few cents. It is a serious matter to assist a Hindu woman, for example, to escape from her husband. Ac¬ cording to English law, a girl who is of age cannot be forced to marry and live with a man against her will. But is this Hindu law, and can it be proved that a given woman married against her will? Grant that it is prac¬ tically impossible for any one to live a consistent Chris¬ tian life in a Hindu home, yet can you encourage a girl to leave her own people? How can you keep a young man or woman safe when once flight has become known ; and where will you get money to carry on a possible lawsuit? Yet how can you send a girl back to a lifetime of suffering and perhaps spiritual death? The various possible complications may be suggested from an actual case of a young wife, Lakshmi, in north¬ ern India, who in 1915 ran away from her Hindu hus¬ band to whom she had been' married against her will. Her purpose was to identify herself with Christians, and 162 DECISIONS WITH REFERENCE TO BAPTISM so she was baptised the next day after her arrival at the mission compound. The English ladies to whom the girl first applied did not feel it would be safe to keep the girl with them as there were no other Indian girls or women in their household, and they themselves were out very much because of their work. She was therefore transferred to the care of an American lady in charge of a boarding school with Indian women living constantly on the grounds. A list of her jewelry — an Indian woman’s insurance — was taken, for it was valuable, and she had brought it all. This was sent to the police lest either the missionary or the girl be arrested on the charge of stealing the jewelry. At the suggestion of the mis¬ sionary the girl then wrote to her husband telling him what she had done and where she was, that he might come and see her, but that she would not go back with him. The family and neighbours were in a great uproar when they heard what had happened. The next day a crowd of relatives came to see her and used every inducement — persuasion, bribes, threats — to get her to go back with them. The missionary was careful to say that she was a free agent and could go if she wished. But she knew her life would not be safe if she did go back, for many Hindu families consider death much less of a disaster than to have one of their number become a Christian. She would very likely have her nose cut off as the very least penalty, if she continued to read her Bible and pray. The husband then brought suit in Civil Court to have the girl returned to his custody. The case had stirred the whole city and every Hindu man was on the side of the husband. The case was put under a Hindu judge, and false witnesses were secured. An attempt to kidnap the girl on her way from the mission house to the court¬ room was foiled by an appeal for police protection. She 163 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES went in a closed carriage, with horses galloping, and with two policemen as outriders. The case dragged on for sixteen months. The girl, under bond, was left in charge of the missionary, who had to produce her in court whenever ordered to do so. During this time she dared not go out of the house alone, and at night she slept beside the missionary in order to avoid the possi¬ bility of kidnapping. Realising that she was putting her missionary friends to great trouble, even endangering them, she at one time ran away to an Indian friend’s house in a neighbouring city. But as the missionaries were responsible for her, she had to be sought out, and was returned under the guise of a European. The case was decided in the husband’s favour; ap¬ pealed, and again decided against the girl. Again the last possible appeal was made. Lakshmi decided that, if the judgment went against her, she would refuse to obey the court. The maximum imprisonment for contempt of court was six months. The decree was against her; she refused to obey, but was sentenced to only six weeks’ im¬ prisonment by the Hindu judge who sympathised with her. During the term attempts were made to make Lakshmi sign certain papers. This failing, an attempt was made to bribe the jailer. Through an old Muhammadan woman, a friend of the wife of the jailer, and also a friend of the mission, because forty years before a school had been started in her house, the missionary learned of a plot to re-arrest Lakshmi immediately on her release, taking her to court, and with no one ready to defend her, the husband might secure possession. This required the missionaries to be on the alert, get a British official to have the exact hour of release fixed, secure a lawyer, and be present at the appointed time. She was re-arrested as she came out of the jail gate and taken immediately to court. Again she was given, 164 DECISIONS WITH REFERENCE TO BAPTISM under bail, to the missionaries and taken under police escort to their home. Again the case dragged on for weary months with appeal and re-appeal. On one occa¬ sion the husband tried to kidnap the girl at a railway station and was thwarted only by the presence of mind and bravery of the lady in charge. After this a case was brought against the husband for assault, which was won; and at last, after three years, the husband gave up the attempt to gain possession of his wife. Lakshmi is now a happy and useful Christian woman. But the vari¬ ous attempts to help her cost 1,000 rupees. This was not taken from mission funds nor from the sale of her jewels. It was privately subscribed by interested mis¬ sionaries. With the memory of this case in mind, face a definite situation — also from life — requiring decision. “Can you tell me where the mission compound is and how to get there?” This question came in trembling tones from a young Hindu girl one Sunday morning a few years ago in the Punjab. It was dawn, when the streets were fairly deserted and the city had not yet awakened to the activities of the day. She had come from a Hindu home of high caste. While Hindu girls are not kept in such strict seclusion as are Muhammadan girls of good families, yet in that part of India the Muhammadan ele¬ ment is so strong that the Hindus have been much in¬ fluenced in this matter. So the young girl had never in her life before been on the streets alone. She, therefore, came with fear and trembling seeking her way to the mission compound. It had taken her days to bring her courage to the point of stealing away to an unknown future holding pos¬ sible peril, sorrow, and suffering, for she was coming to seek baptism with all that means of renunciation and pain to a high caste Hindu. She was an orphan, and had left her aunt and older brother behind. 165 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES On finding the principal of the mission school which she had been attending, she unburdened her heart. “Miss Sahiba, I came by myself and no one knows it. I had to come. I want to be a Christian and I want to be baptised. They will not let me be a Christian at home. When I told them that I wanted to become a Christian they said that they would be terribly disgraced and that they would rather see me dead than to have me become a Christian, and you know what they did to me, how they married me against my will to a man old enough to be my father, a horrid man, the very sight of whom turned me sick with fear and trembling. I have told you how they kept me such a close prisoner that I could not get any word to you. I tried to bribe one of the children to carry a note to the school, but he was found out and punished. When the day of the wedding came I fought and kicked and screamed, but I was powerless. They were too strong for me and I was carried away forcibly. I tried to call for help at the railway station, but they shut my mouth and besides who would listen to a poor Hindu girl whose men folk were with her? No one will interfere in a family quarrel and who cares what happens to a woman? The man was very cruel to me and I fought against going to his apartments and finally my mother-in-law took pity on me and let me stay with her. You know how I wrote to my brother and told him how unhappy I was and how cruel the man was, and now he finally came and brought me home and let me go back to school again. “Miss Sahiba, I can never go back to that man again ! I want to be a Christian and he will never let me be one. He will make me perform all the Hindu rites and customs which I know to be sinful, and he will not let me read my Bible or worship my Saviour. And, oh, Miss Sahiba, he is so cruel, so hard, and I am so afraid of him. Save me, oh, save me from him! I will do 166 DECISIONS WITH REFERENCE TO BAPTISM anything you say if you will only let me stay with you and will protect me from that man.” DISCUSSION 1. Analyse the various causes which make possible the state¬ ment: “Many Hindu families consider death much less of a disaster than to have one of their number become a Christian.” 2. The majority of missionaries would advise a wife to remain with her non-Christian husband. It is to be remembered, how¬ ever, that in this case the girl was married against her will, and in order to prevent her becoming a Christian. Realising that the young lady in charge knew the girl, and thoroughly believed her story, what would you advise her to do? 3. Balance the arguments for and against giving the girl refuge and baptism ( e.g loss in time for general missionary work in¬ volved, possibility of arousing enmity, question whether high- caste Hindus can ever be won except one at a time and with the utmost effort and sacrifice, the probability that regular and frequent visits to her in a Hindu home would be impossible, etc.). 3. BAPTISM BY A WOMAN MISSIONARY In a high caste Hindu home a lady, who had been under the influence of a missionary visiting this zenana, lay dying. She was a secret Christian. Recognising that she could not live and her husband making no objection, she urgently begged to be baptised by her visiting friend. No ordained missionary, because of his sex, could enter the home, and the dying woman believed that baptism was essential to her salvation. If her baptism became public, it would mean the interruption of the missionary’s work, perhaps the final closing of the zenanas of that city to all the ladies of its mission. Moreover, the mis¬ sionary was not authorised by her church to administer baptism. As a matter of fact, the missionary baptised the dying woman. The deceased was cremated with Hindu ceremonies. The husband kept his silence. The mission authorities did not censure the missionary, though she 167 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES had acted without authorisation. The wisdom of such authorisation has often been discussed by missionary con¬ ferences in India. The actual practice is not uniform. DISCUSSION 1. In the face of the insistence of the dying woman, what ought the missionary to have done : explained that baptism is not essential to salvation, or met the emergency by baptising the woman herself? What other course, if any, was open? 2. What is your church law on this question? 4. PURDAH WOMEN AND THE SACRAMENTS a. Baptism. In India the purdah is a common insti¬ tution among Muhammadans, and many thousands — in¬ deed some millions — of women are kept more or less secluded in the zenanas to which men other than the nearest of kin are never admitted. Even where Hindu women move freely in public places, they can usually be reached by the Gospel only through the ministry of women. Muhammadan women of the upper classes un¬ doubtedly feel that modesty, even perhaps chastity, are inconsistent with the abandonment of the purdah. Indian zenana and Bible-women are engaged in house to house visitation with the Christian message. As a result learners not seldom become disciples and disciples sincere believers. At this stage various problems of procedure arise. To a woman brought up in the strictly guarded seclusion of the zenana, the habits and feelings associated with this custom become a second nature. Lifelong sentiment associates ability to face the gaze of men with brazen-facedness and immodesty. To force converts from this class to break over their habit of seclusion might cause them to lose their self-respect. Under these circumstances, may purdah (i.e., sitting behind a veil) women be baptised in the church in the presence of Christian women only, or must it be before 168 DECISIONS WITH REFERENCE TO BAPTISM the general audience? If, after being urged to come to church for baptism, they can not or will not come, may baptism be given privately in their homes? This solu¬ tion raises the question as to whether the candidate is making an open and honest confession, and whether she can live a consistent life in the privacy of the zenanas. Still other things must be taken into consideration. On the one hand is the effect publicity would have on the woman, and the way it might be interpreted by the non- Christian mind outside. On the other there is the danger that any concession to the purdah system would be a toleration in part of this reprehensible custom of Mu¬ hammadanism that would result in ultimate injury to the church. So great a departure from ordinary Christian custom might grow up into prescriptive custom in favour of a certain class. Furthermore it is desirable to avoid all that might seem like intrigue and secrecy. b. Communion. A still more difficult problem, espe¬ cially for certain denominations, is to decide how Com¬ munion may be administered to such women. Suppose baptised Christian women consent to come to church and sit behind the screen provided for purdah women, but will not bring themselves to receive Communion in the midst of a mixed congregation, may they receive it from a part of the chancel curtained off, or in a private place screened off from the male part of the congregation ? Besides the considerations brought out under paragraph a, one must balance the inconvenience in administration against the possible harm to the women of over-urging them into the public. DISCUSSION 1. Why do you consider the purdah system contrary to the Spirit of Christ? How can missionaries most sympathetically and effectively help those concerned to discern this opposition? 169 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES 2. Under what circumstances would the two sacraments be administered privately by your own home church? 3. Should a missionary limit his guidance to declaring what he deems to be the better way, leaving it to the Spirit of God to lead the growing churches on the mission field into all truth? Or should he attempt to enforce, as an essential part of the religion of Christ, the acceptance of the fruits this religion has borne in the social fabric of his own nation? 4. What weight in a matter of this kind should be given to the judgment of the native Christian community? 5. Ought any difference in case a be made between baptising a Muhammadan woman whose husband remains a Muhammadan, and one whose husband is already a Christian ? 6. To what extent is the meaning and purpose of the sacra¬ ments lost when these rites are administered in secret? 170 Chapter VIII PROBLEMS OF THE MISSIONARY HOME 1. STANDARDS OF AESTHETIC EXPRESSION ADVISABLE FOR A MISSIONARY One of our great missionary leaders says, “Doubtless the most potent, single influence exerted by the mission¬ ary is through the object lesson of his home.” 1 In set¬ ting up a home abroad, the great difference between the economic level possible to missionaries and that normal to most of the people among whom they work is a perennial problem and one that has many ramifications. One difficulty is to determine on what scale the mis¬ sionary should live and furnish his house. Many a native pastor keenly feels the limitations imposed by his salary on the purchase of books, entertaining, and dress¬ ing suitably to meet people of culture, and will confide to a friend that he is always conscious of the difference in this regard between the missionaries and himself. Na¬ tive co-teachers in mission schools and colleges sometimes smart under their limitations in entertaining students and otherwise expressing themselves due to the lower wage scale which they receive in comparison with their foreign colleagues. There is bound to be a difference of opinion among missionaries as to the proper style of living and the order¬ ing of one’s domestic life abroad. Some hold that a mis¬ sionary’s house, not only serves as a home for himself l Mott, John R., “The Present World Situation,” p. 128. 171 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES and family, but should be an object lesson for all the community, being open to everybody. Believing that it is futile to make a display of rugs and pictures which in all human probability will be beyond the economic range of the people for decades to come, they attempt to make their homes as far as possible a practical model which conceivably could be imitated. The missionary wife can often create an orderly, neat, and attractive home out of materials accessible at least to the better class among whom she lives. In order to satisfy the curiosity of a people unused to foreign ways, a mis¬ sionary wife may set aside one day a week when her friends may go all over her house, opening drawers, looking at clothes, and asking all sorts of questions as to how she lives. Quite apart from the attempt to set up a home that could serve as a model, any missionary regrets the in¬ evitably higher standard at which he must live, and the gulf which tends to form between himself and those with whom in the fullest sense he would be friends. He is eager to do nothing that will accentuate an inferiority complex on the part of the people, or which would act as a bar to fellowship. A few, with what some would call a morbid sensitiveness, are vividly conscious of the discrepancy between their comfortable homes and Christ’s way of life. One missionary man and wife in the Punjab reduced their furnishings to the simplest, approaching as nearly as possible the native standard. Nothing in their home was so fine or expensive that they felt constrained in having their village friends come into their home. Even then it was vastly higher than that of their Indian friends. In the face of one of those cuts in appropriations from America which almost break the heart of any eager mis¬ sionary, one family in China, who had been feeling keenly the difference between foreign and Chinese ways of liv- 172 PROBLEMS OF THE MISSIONARY HOME ing, left their foreign house with furnace heat and other conveniences, to live in Chinese quarters such as the average church member in their constituency would have. They also lived on what a Chinese family would spend for food, which necessitated the closest economy of meat, milk, butter, etc. By this plan they saved money, since their house was rented, and their current expenses cut down. They could therefore contribute directly to the mission’s need, and also felt that they could eliminate the gulf between the Chinese and themselves as foreigners. The result was the physical and nervous breakdown of both the missionary and his wife, and enforced rest under a doctor’s strict regulation. This attempt to approximate native standards has other drawbacks. In a well-known experiment tried in the United Provinces, India, a missionary who had adopted the life of poverty and went about as an Indian religious mendicant found that the people only wondered what kind of poor white trash he was that he could not live as his fellows. Many natives expect missionaries to have better houses, servants, etc., and regard them as stingy if they do not do it. In parts of China missionaries have been rebuked for eating rice, while the Chinese about them could buy only flour, which is about half as costly. Con¬ sequently some missionaries have taken special pains to avoid ordering rice at a public inn, confining themselves to the common food of the people. Onlookers however have criticised them as “tightwads” and as unwilling to part with their money. Some take their own food with them, ordering little else than water. But even this can be criticised. “Our food is not good enough for them, but they can’t get along without water.” Hence, still other missionaries take the position that their homes should express the standard of beauty and culture natural to their means and taste. Some are in¬ fluenced by the belief that, as Westerners in an Oriental 173 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES environment, they would break if they could not have something of their old Occident in their surroundings. Without a congenial, aesthetic expression about them, they feel that they would not be able to stand the isolation and hardships of mission life in some areas. Others adopt this position because they sincerely believe that to have an attractive but not extravagant home according to Western standards is one of the minor contributions which they can make to the field in which they work. Acting on this principle a missionary and his wife in the Punjab bought the best pictures, rugs, and furniture they could afford. On principle, however, they did not let fear of injury to their things keep them from enter¬ taining those who were not used to Western ways. If a guest sprinkled water from the finger bowl over a radius of two feet on their tablecloth, well and good. They did not let the fact that the football team might drop mango seeds and skins over the drawing-room carpet keep them from having the men in after a victory. One of the most beloved missionaries of Siam had a very comfort¬ able home, but no place was too good for his Siamese friends. He was never too busy to receive them and give them all the time they wanted. No effort was too great to entertain them, and by so doing he patiently won more of them to Christ than he ever knew. He would say, “If I can get the people to come to me, I have a far better opportunity to teach them than if I have to go to them.” He would sit up late into the night doing his private work that he might spend the day with the people who filled his home. To avoid obvious difficulties, certain expedients are sometimes adopted. For example, in an inland Chinese station, where the village people would not hesitate to enter a missionary’s home with their clumsy, mud-covered shoes, two reception rooms were arranged, one in Ameri¬ can style with rugs and carpets, the other in the Chinese 174 PROBLEMS OF THE MISSIONARY HOME style of their community with dirt floor. It was under¬ stood that friends would be received in whichever room they chose ; but it was laughingly taken for granted that they would want to conform to the standards and eti¬ quette of the room they chose. DISCUSSION 1. How would you criticise the following positions : (a) “It is just as well to let the natives see that we come from a different civilisation and have different standards of living. How else can they appreciate what we are doing for them?” (b) “It is none of the natives’ business how the missionary lives.” (c) “My home is my castle. I come back to it to get nerves rested and mind quieted and refreshed. This is the place for me to conform to my needs. I can render my service and do my missionary work outside my house.” (d) “The particular level at which we express our lives in a particular way is of little consequence. It is the spirit and welcome of our homes that signify.” (e) “A missionary is living in luxury when he exceeds the standard established as the minimum requisite for the mainte¬ nance of healthful life.” (f) “Luxury is indeed possible in the future — innocent and exquisite ; luxury for all and by the help of all ; but luxury at present can only be enjoyed by the ignorant; the crudest man living could not sit at his feast unless he sat blindfold.” (g) “Basic to one who longs for the Kingdom of Heaven is that realisation of brotherhood and fellowship and communion which he craves to have with all men everywhere. Not only is it lacking among men generally, but it is hard to find even among Christians, and largely because of the fact that some have, and many more have not. It is the economic factor which is the ultimate cause of this separation.” 2. Actual practice on the mission field will depend on such considerations as the value of congenial, aesthetic surroundings as a factor in the reinforcement of a missionary for service, culture and temperament in the personal equation of the particu¬ lar missionary, the group one most wishes to reach through one’s home (upper classes, pariahs, students, peasants, etc.), the ab¬ sence or presence of children, and a desire to witness to Western standards. What other considerations might enter in? Arrange these in two groups, those of primary and those of secondary importance. 175 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES 3. Try to draft a working definition of luxury for a mis¬ sionary.1 4. With great and unmistakable needs about him, how would you justify a missionary’s use of part of his means for luxuries or near luxuries. Should we apply a different standard in this respect to a missionary than to a Christian in the West? Why? 2. IDOLS AS ORNAMENTS In many missionary homes idols that have been given up by converts find a place as curios, souvenirs, orna¬ ments, or works of art. It is possible that, while those who know foreign ways may understand that they are there for purely aesthetic reasons, strangers or country people may assume that they are objects of worship. The non-Christian servants who handle them and dust them may think of them as more than wood or stone. One missionary in China had a handsome brass incense burner on a mantel in her home. She used it as a vase for flowers, but removed it when she found that one woman could not believe it was for any purpose other than an occasional, sly sacrifice to Buddha. It is some¬ times hard for native Christians, who have themselves discarded idols from their homes under pressure and at considerable sacrifice, to see them in a missionary’s home even when they know he does not worship them. On the other hand, one may take the position that while it is barely possible that the exceptional visitor may misunder¬ stand, the greatest educative effect will result from dis¬ regarding the former religious significance of idols. One who has trained many out-going missionaries urged them to make their sensitiveness to the pathos of idolatry an index of their own spiritual condition, for it is quite possible for a Westerner to have the delicacy of his spiritual reactions dulled from familiarity with l Consult a special issue of The World, To-morrow , June, “Charting the Luxury Line.” 176 1922, on PROBLEMS OF THE MISSIONARY HOME idolatrous customs. In line with this, one missionary believes that, if he can pass Hindu worship without feel¬ ing deep pain, it is time for him to enter a retreat. An¬ other missionary warns his Indian Christian associate workers about looking on an idol procession as a spec¬ tacle. For them to bring their little children to see it, he regards as dulling and stupefying. It is a question whether, even in the West, idols should ever become mere ornaments and curios with our consciousness dulled to the fact that there are still millions who have such objects as their highest known means of access to God. DISCUSSION 1. In the use of idols as curios or ornaments, what things must the missionary take into consideration that people do not need to regard in the West? 2. With what motives and attitudes would you justify their use in Western homes? In missionary homes? 3. What bearing on this question, if any, would there be in considering how we would feel to see a man using a mediaeval communion cup as an ink pot? 3. PERSONAL ADJUSTMENTS Missionaries are often brought into closer relationships with one another on the field than is usual for families at home. Sometimes, where the housing accommodation is not adequate, two missionary families may be assigned the same house. Often in the summer sanatoria or hill resorts two or more families are crowded into one large house. Single men and women missionaries frequently share the home of some married missionary. All such conditions make their demand on patience and adapta¬ bility. a. Gossip. The inevitable intimacy of such conditions often leads to petty but most unfortunate criticisms. 177 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES Hints that cannot be called kind are sometimes dropped by one missionary about another. “Mr. and Mrs. - have milk toast every night for supper. I thought I’d die living with them for six weeks/’ “Well, of course Mrs. - really doesn’t know anything about managing a house. She’s a college graduate and — well, you know. I hope you won’t have to live with them.” “Mr. - always wants all the station money for his own work. He can’t see anybody else’s point of view.” “No, I haven’t time for a rest at noon. Of course, somebody has to keep the work going.” “Well, I hate to say it, Mr. - has wonderful theories of education, but his children are a menace to the compound.” A young lady with a decided prejudice against rocking chairs has an associate who likes nothing better in the rest period than to rock back and forth as she crochets. A nurse “talks shop all the time.” In a certain station two strong natures that have not learned to give up in little things clash. Thus the unusually close association on the mission field may de¬ velop many friction points. b. Thoughtlessness. A city missionary and his wife became rather vexed by a fellow missionary from the district who, when shopping in the metropolis, made a convenience of their home. He had a habit of dropping in unexpectedly after a long motor trip. It was usually just at meal time, so that either the servants had to be delayed while he made an elaborate “clean up,” or else he would go to the table as he was, and thus often shock the more delicate sense of etiquette of Chinese guests who might be present. He did not realise that politeness and a scrupulous rgard for the sensibilities of others is a highly desirable requisite in missionaries to the Chinese. Moreover, while in the city he would allow himself to come late to meals, often starting out for an errand ten minutes before the appointed meal time. Such guests do 178 PROBLEMS OF THE MISSIONARY HOME not help household arrangements, and the situation was beginning to develop considerable friction. The solution in this case did not come from the side where the blame was greatest. That summer, when the city missionary and his wife were away in the mountains for their summer rest they prayed specifically for new light and strength for their work and all their relations with others. They made a special study of their Bibles and attended regularly a two weeks’ series of meetings for the deepening of the spiritual life. The leader was not exactly to their liking, but they received a very definite blessing. When they went back to their work they sud¬ denly found that their rural friend’s ways did not irritate them any longer, they welcomed him gladly, enjoyed pro¬ tracted accounts of his problems, and were able to ignore the habits that had been so objectionable. c. Dressing for dinner. In many mission centres, especially in the cities where official influence is strong, it is far more common to dress for dinner than in most American cities. The host and hostess in one missionary home located in a small town made it their practice to come to their dinner table each night in evening dress. Their idea was not at all to put on airs, but vigorously to combat the tendency to let down standards and become somewhat dowdy, when beyond the bounds of European civilisation and the stimulation of friends. With them was living a single missionary, who not only did not have a dress suit, but did not want one, and rather pooh-poohed, the whole idea of going the extra mile in keeping up the refinements of Western civilisation. He was inclined to think that clean shirt sleeves were good enough for the mission field, if they had been good enough in his college days. This started out by being a small matter of adjust¬ ment, but, as neither could yield an inch and no sense of 179 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES humour came to the rescue, friction grew to such propor¬ tions that the spiritual work of the station became en¬ dangered, complaint reached the Board, and the transfer of both parties was necessary. DISCUSSION 1. Who was most to blame in case ct How would you, as a Christian, have attempted to solve the situation if you had been the wife? The missionary guest? 2. Do you consider the appropriation of Christianity by indi¬ viduals to be faulty if they cannot get on with others? Al¬ ways ? Why, or why not ? 3. What reflections on the training and qualification of mis¬ sionaries does this section suggest? 4. DISHONESTY IN SERVANTS A possible source of irritation in many mission fields is the petty thieving in which servants indulge. You find that the same eggs have been sold to you a second time. The washer-boy has asked for three bars of soap each week to do the family washing, and later you find out that he has used only one bar a week, having sold the other two. One day you discover that the cook has been paying four cents for the cabbage for which he has been taking fifteen cents from you. One of your best napkins has been burned with the iron. Who did it? You know, and the laundry boy knows. If you call his attention to it he must either tell a falsehood, or ‘dose face.” In the latter case you are likely to lose your servant. Sometimes difference in practice creates difficulty. Missionary A was assigned to a station where missionary B had long lived. It eventually was evident that Mr. B, for the sake of peace and regularity in household service, had acquired the habit of winking at petty thefts on the part of his servants — sugar, tea, milk, flour, bread, etc. 180 PROBLEMS OF THE MISSIONARY HOME Mr. A felt it obligatory to hold his servants to standards of absolute honesty. This naturally led to friction be¬ tween him and his servants, so that there were frequent changes, and the reproach that Mr. A could not get on with his servants. DISCUSSION 1. What analogy to this situation is there in the West? 2. What principle, if any, applicable to this situation, has been worked out in the West? 3. What responsibility should a missionary feel for ascer¬ taining what a living wage is, and paying that, irrespective of prevailing rates ? 1 4. One missionary feels that it is his duty to teach his servants lessons of honesty and justice. Hence even at great expense of time and nervous energy he undertakes to make them hew to the line. Any other procedure would, he feels, tend to blunt his own sensitiveness to right. Another is quite ready to lose a considerable amount of money rather than to expend energy in household reform. He, therefore, partially closes his eyes, and does not ask too many questions. Which is right? If neither, sketch the proper procedure. 5. Engineers know the tensile strength of each material they use. They would be culpable if they permitted an over¬ strain to come upon a given beam. Weigh the culpability of a housekeeper who does not take the pains to get acquainted with market prices or quantities needed or who permits sup¬ plies in quantity to be unduly exposed without lock or key, so that such cheating as was suggested in the first paragraph is possible. Is such prevention of dishonesty really promoting honesty? 6. A missionary may take the position that the causes under¬ lying these problems are too widespread and complicated for one individual to cope successfully with them. What is your judgment as to the validity of this position? 5. NON-CHRISTIANS SHARING IN FAMILY PRAYERS It is a very common practice for missionaries to have their servants — cook, gateman, gardener, washerman, l Increase of wages does not necessarily stop the “squeeze.” Cases are known where the increase in wage has been interpreted as a sign that money is plentiful, and so the squeeze was increased. 181 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES nurse, etc. — come to family prayers. In such families it is an understood custom, and the servants rarely refuse even when they are non-Christians. In China, for example, just as no man can be employed in a shop unless he is willing to join in the worship of the gods who are supposed to bring business success, so it does not seem unreasonable to the Chinese that a missionary should compel his servants to join in morning worship. Many non-Christian servants have become followers of Jesus as a result of their contact with Christianity in the home. Others continue to render good and faithful service for ten or fifteen years without professing any change in religion. Occasionally a missionary does not call his servants to family prayers for fear of their be¬ coming too much at home to be good servants. DISCUSSION 1. Would you feel like establishing the custom of daily prayers for your whole household, servants included? Why? Why not? 2. What place has compulsion in the case of children or servants who do not regard the prayer service as a privilege? 3. Some feel the need of family prayers as opposed to the more inclusive household prayers. How would you be inclined to meet this conflict? 4. Suppose it were your desire to have all take a part, as far as possible, in the service. If some of the servants were non-Christian, would you exclude these from reading a Scrip¬ ture verse in turn? From commenting on their verse? From praying in turn? Why? State as clearly as possible the object of having them take part in the service. 5. Has the missionary any obligation in regard to household prayers that is different from that of a Christian in America? 6. MAINTAINING SPIRITUAL RENEWAL The cases which are being considered in these chapters manifestly require common sense, historical and compara- 182 PROBLEMS OF THE MISSIONARY HOME tive judgment, and special training in one or the other fields of university study. Insights of highest value, how¬ ever, should come from those who not only pay the price of thorough investigation and conclusive thinking, but who bring to bear upon life’s problems and opportunities the quiet poise of a unified and spiritual personality in tune with the purposeful, creative Source of life and love. The spiritual renewal of personality in the presence of God is imperative for fulness of life-sharing, but the mis¬ sion field presents no more insidious and persistent temp¬ tation than at this point. A young woman went out to the mission field as the wife of a college professor. She was experienced, spir¬ itually minded, devoted and sincere in her desire faith¬ fully to serve. But after some months had passed she wakened up one morning in her Indian bungalow to the fact that something was wrong. She was very busy doing things from morn till night — all useful and necessary things — but she realised that she was not keeping true to her experience of the value of a quiet unhurried devo¬ tional life. She had learned through years of work at home that a day begun with communion with God yields finer results than one without this quiet time. As she meditated her mind went back to old Chicago days of rush and hurry, and she recalled how, as she thought out toward the mission field, she had expected to find plenty of time to read and study her Bible and to pray dynami¬ cally. She supposed that every missionary naturally found time for these things because they would be so essential. Experience, however, had now shown her otherwise. Missionaries were, if possible, even more than those at home pressed and hurried by opportunities of service, and by constant interruptions. In her own case there was the cry of the baby clamouring for attention long before time for wakening in the morning. There was 183 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES the detail of running an Oriental home with its locked cupboards and constant oversight of water and milk and sanitary standards. There were, as one would wish, calls from village Christians who needed friendly help for one suddenly taken ill, or advice on some personal problem, or who just wanted to sit and visit. There were tourists turning up at the railroad station to be met, entertained, and shown mission work in its perspective that they might go back home and rightly interpret what missions are trying to do. There were fellow missionaries from outstations dropping in unexpectedly for the day’s den¬ tistry or shopping. Very often as she went off to her work in school or zenana or hospital she carried that added burden which India’s climate so often places upon a mother — solicitude because of illness in her household. In the midst of these activities it was not strange that prayer should be crowded out. At hand were the best of excuses. How could she take a quiet half-hour for herself when others needed her time so much? Where could she go to be alone? Doors shut with uncertainty and difficulty in the old Indian bungalow, so that privacy could not be depended upon. From the standpoint both of satisfactory time and place it was easy to argue that there was no solution. But then came the deeper consciousness that she was losing the power which could alone make her life effec¬ tive. She recalled the very real sacrifice of her father and mother in letting their only daughter go for life to a foreign land. The cost was great and could only be justified by its fruitage. Quantity of service could be performed without prayer, but power of spirit could come in only one way. She knew it. She had tried it out at home. She was conscious of failure just at this point. “There must be a way,” she said. Her mind began to turn things over. If there was no secluded spot she would make one. She selected a small 1 84 PROBLEMS OF THE MISSIONARY HOME room through which she most frequently had to pass in the course of the day. Since doors would not shut, she hung curtains which could be quickly drawn across wide openings. This gave at least the sense of seclusion. She had her carpenter make a prayer desk and this was placed in the passage with her open Bible upon it, and pencil and pad near by. To complete her altar she sent for a large copy of Hoffmann’s “Christ in Gethsemane,” which was hung over the desk. This picture spoke to her every time she passed through the room. It said — “If Christ, who had so many people pressing upon him for healing and instruction, who could meet men’s needs so much better than I can, found it necessary to pray and found time to pray, so, surely, can I !” This room with its desk and picture proved the secret of a new poise and power. Things happened in the minds and hearts of those who came to this home that had not happened before. The problem which this young missionary faced is common to every field. The details may vary, but the outline is the same. Everywhere one must fight for one’s spiritual life against unfavourable environment, time, and place. It is the same problem at home or abroad. Geography does not alter the difficulty of setting one’s will resolutely to the regular gathering of soul manna. DISCUSSION 1. What value has prayer as a working force in meeting the problems of daily life? 2. On what principles would you determine the place it should have in a missionary’s life? 3. What illustrations from biography — missionary or other¬ wise — can you bring to bear upon the subject? 185 INDEX Accepting hospitality, e, p. 70 Adaptation to non-christian religious thought, Sec. 3, p. .53 Animism, Sec. 1, p. 18; Sec. 2, p. 24 ; b, p. 60 Arya Samaj, d, p. 48. Assistance to a native enter¬ prise, Sec. 3, p. 98 Attitude, to doubtful customs, p. 17 Bans, d, p. 112 Banyan test, the, e, p. 26 Baptism, by a woman missionary, Sec. 3, p. 167 harbouring runaways, Sec. 2, p. 162 of purdah women, a, p. 168 polygamous husbands, Sec. 5, p. 126 time and conditions of, Sec. 1, p. 157 with chuttiya, f, p. 21 wives of polygamists, a, p. 133 Buddhism, forms, e, p. 58 Buddhist forms, e, p. 58 Building under protest, c, p. 103 Charms, d, p. 25 Child betrothal, a, p. 122 bride-price, b, p. 123 Christian incubator, c, p. 100 Chuttiya, the, f, p. 21 Common play, b, p. 79 Common worship, c, p. 79 Communion, b, p. 169 Concubinage, d, p. 129 Confucianism, funeral procession, i, p. 28 memorial feast, Sec. 5, p. 43 tablet of, d, p. 66 written character, g, p. 26 Control, westerners under na¬ tive., Sec. 4, p. 81 Convicting a desperado, c, p. 89 Courtship, g, p. 32 Co-worship, f, p. 32 Customs, doubtful, p. 17 Damage from riot, c, p. 84 Damp servants’ quarters, a, p. 74 Demanding one’s rights, Sec. 5, p. 83 Destruction with official con¬ nivance, d, p. 85 Dishonesty in servants, Sec. 4, p. 180 Dress, b, p. 31 Dressing for dinner, c, p. 179 Drinking impure milk, a, p. 69 Drum beating, e, p. 36 Eating from a common dish, d, p. 70 Eating native food, c, p. 70 Employment of a mother, e, p. 75 Equivocation, d, p. 104 Evil-eye, the, c, p. 25 Family, Christian, the, Chapt. V, pp. 111-141 husband’s name, e, p. 20 standards, b, p. 74 187 CONTACTS WITH NON-CHRISTIAN CULTURES Family ( Cont .) the missionary, Chapt. VIII, p. 171 Feng shui, b, p. 18 Fermented wheat, d, p. 36 Forcible purchase, b, p. 103 Friday worship, b, p. 46 Funds from non-Christian sources, Sec. 2, p. 95 Funeral processions, i, p. 28 Go-between, use of a, c, p. 112 Gossip, a, p. 177 Grave salutes, c, p. 19 Half truths, e, p. 104 Harbouring refugees, Sec. 7, p. 92 Hinduism, customs, Sec. 5, p. 42 drum beating, e, p. 36 idols, c, p. 60; d, p. 60 prayer of, c, p. 66 shrine, e, p. 61 Home, spiritual renewal in the, Sec. 6, p. 182 the missionary, Chapt. VIII, pp. 171-185 Hospital, slackness in, f, p. 75 Hospitality, c, p. 31 Idol paper, a, p. 34 Idols, as ornaments, Sec. 2, p. 176 community, a, p. 59 food offered to, h, p. 28 in servants’ quarters, a, p. 46 scorning, d, p. 60 stepping on, c, p. 60 Idolatry, Sec. 2, p. 51 Impartiality in service, a, p. 99 Incense making, b, p. 35 Injury to summer homes, b, p. 84 Justice for native Christians, Sec. 6, p. 87 Koran, the, f, p. 26 Limitation of help to Chris¬ tians, Sec. 4, p. 99 Lotus, the, a, p. 62 Lucky sites, b, p. 18 Marriage, Sec. 1, p. 112 ceremony, Sec. 2, p. 115 change in form, e, p. 20 courtship, g, p. 32 for those previously mar¬ ried, Sec. 7, p. 138 mixed, Sec. 8, p. 139 of missionaries, h, p. 32 plural wife, b, p. 133 Memorial as indemnity, e , p. 85 Mother-in-law taboo, e, p. 113 Mourning, d, p. 20 Muhammadanism, Friday worship, b, p. 46 good in, f, p. 49 helping, e, p. 49 Kalima,' Sec. 5, p. 42 prayer in mosque, a, p. 54 the Koran, f, p. 26; b, p. 66 tombs, b, p. 55 Official pressure, f, p. 104 Oppression by corrupt officials, b, p. 88 Pagodas, a , p. 65 Parental authority, Sec. 3, p. 119 Persecution by relatives, d, p. 90 Persecution by Roman Cath¬ olics, a, p. 88 Personal adjustments, Sec. 3, p. 177 Polygamists, wives of, Sec. 6, 'p. 133 Polygamous husbands, Sec. 5, p. 126 Pork guild, b, p. 52 Prayer desk, Sec. 6, p. 185 INDEX Prayers, community, d, p. 58 in a mosque, a , p. 54 non-christians sharing in, Sec. 5, p. 181 using the name of Christ, c, p. 56 Property, a, p. 83 Proprieties, clash in, Sec. 3, p. 30 Protection of a generous preacher, e, p. 91 Race relations, Chapt. Ill, pp. 69-93 Reserving tips, b, p. 100 Sacraments, and purdah wom¬ en, Sec. 4, p. 168 Salaries for mission assistants, Sec. 1, p. 94 Sanitaria, a, p. 78 Screening native quarters, e, p. 74 Securing mission property, Sec. 5, p. 102 Self-support, Sec. 6, p. 105 Shaking hands, e, p. 31 ; b, p. 112 Sheet as a tablecloth, b, p. 69 Sleeping with a consumptive, f, m p. 71 Spiritual renewal, Sec. 6, p. 182 Standards, accepting current, b, p. 74 of aesthetic expression, Sec. 1, p.,171 Sublimation of non-Christian customs, Sec. 5, p. 40 Sunday observance, Chapt. VI, pp. 142-156 by Christians, Sec. 2, p. 145 by non-Christians, Sec. 1, p. 142 for illiterates, Sec. 3, p. 151 games, Sec. 4, p. 153 time limits, Sec. 5, p. 155 Superstition, among Christians, a, p. 18 among non-Christians, Sec. 2, p. 24 Swastika, the, c, p. 64 Symbols, choice of, Sec. 5, p. 62 Taoism, priests, e, p. 67 Thoughtlessness, b, p. 178 Torii, the, b, p. 63 Touching hands, d, p. 31 Unhygienic association, d, p. 75 Veiled faces, a, p. 30 Widows, remarriage of, f, p. 114 Written character, the, g, p. 26 189 9 . Date Due . . vCf — » A FA '. — <9 Ml' % % PRINTED IN U. S. A.