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 _ON DECIDING EARLY TO BECOME A- MISSIONARY TO 
 THE HEATHEN. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 CROCKER & BREWSTER, PRINTERS. 
 
 é 
 TOES 
 
 1884. 
 
 
 
 
 

 
MISSIONARY PAPER, NO. [S. 
 
 ON DECIDING EARLY TO BECOME A MIs- 
 SIONARY TO THE HEATHEN. 
 
 Te object of this paper is, to assign reasons in favor of 
 the following proposition, viz: That every student, looking 
 forward to the sacred ministry, should decide nary, in 
 view of existing circumstances, whether duty requires him 
 to become a missionary to the heathen. 
 
 I have my mind upon a current maxim, which has de- 
 prived the heathen world, I fear, of many excellent mis- 
 sionaries. The maxim is this—‘‘That it is better to 
 delay deciding on our personal duty to the heathen, till 
 near the close of our studies preparatory to the ministry.” 
 The reasons for such a delay are plausible. The student 
 will be older—his judgment more matured—his mind 
 better informed—the whole case more completely before 
 him. My appeal, however, is to facts. For ten years 
 and more, I have watched the operation of this maxim, 
 and I am sure that its influence is, to prevent a thorough 
 and impartial examination. The procrastination which 
 it requires, becomes a habit, and is usually too long per- 
 sisted in. ‘The ‘‘more convenient season’? for investiga- 
 tion, is generally allowed to pass by. Engagements are 
 formed, rendering the case more complicated; solicita- 
 tions and inducements to remain at home, multiply; the 
 natural love of one’s own country grows stronger and 
 stronger; the early predilection for the missionary life, if 
 there had been one, wears away; the cries of the hea- 
 
 
 

 
 2 On Deciding Early to become 
 
 then, and their distress, move with less and less power, 
 and the man remains at home:—not as the result of any 
 vigorous exercise of the understanding upon the question 
 of duty, but because he decided to postpone consideration 
 upon it till he was about to launch into the world, and 
 then surrendered himself passively to the control of cir- 
 ‘cumstances. 
 
 This is not the way to learn our duty on the momentous 
 question. Where is the field and the work, to which the 
 Holy Ghost hath called me? And what inquiry is there, 
 which can be more important than this to our growth in 
 grace, and to our happiness and usefulness in future life? 
 And what more directly connected with the sentence to 
 be passed upon us, at the great day, as the stewards of 
 Christ? Next to the relation which we sustain to the 
 Lord Jesus, there is nothing we are more interested to 
 know, as his ministers, than where he would have us 
 spend our lives; where the field is, which he commands 
 us to cultivate; and where the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, 
 will complacently regard our residence, and delight to 
 bless our exertions and alleviate our trials. Is there not 
 a foundation for solicitude on this point? Cari it be a 
 matter of perfect indifference to the Head of the church, 
 where we preach, provided only we are diligent, and 
 preach the truth? It was not so in respect to the Apos- 
 tles;* nor is itsonow. Mistakes on this subject, when 
 committed needlessly, much more when committed be- 
 cause we will not consider, must have a very serious bear- 
 ing upon us as ministers of the gospel. 
 
 The proposition is, that we should begin to look early 
 at this question, with reference to the claims of the hea- 
 then world upon us, and that we should decide it early, 
 in view of existing circumstances. An unconditional de- 
 cision is not desired. Such an one is indeed forbidden 
 by the word of God, in reference to all our future meas- 
 ures. We must say, ‘If the Lord will we shall live, 
 and do this or that.’”’ The decision should be in view of 
 
 things as they now appear, and with an understanding 
 that the grounds of it shall be occasionally revised—cer- 
 
 * Acts xiii, 2; xvi, 10. 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 i 
 i 
 
 RS a a Se 
 
 OD Og 
 
 ed 
 
 CE ao a IDE a RE nN NT a a a IN AN ae Ne SL NL 
 
 
 
 
 
 a Missionary to the Heathen. 3 
 
 tainly as often as there is a manifest change in our cir- 
 cumstances. And is it not true, that however late the 
 decision is made, it must still be conditional? 
 
 It is not necessary that the resolution to spend life 
 among the heathen should be unconditional, in order to 
 insure the advantages to be mentioned in the sequel as 
 resulting from its being made early. It is formed with 
 reference to the Lord’s will. As that will is now ind 
 cated, the determination is unreserved and decisive. No 
 sooner is it formed, than a mission to the heathen world 
 stands up before the mind as the great, paramount duty 
 of life. The command to ‘preach the gospel to every 
 creature,’ comes to us with a distinct specification of the 
 unevangelized world as our field; and we rest in this de- 
 cision, till unanticipated, unsought-for events change the 
 grounds of our decision, and call for reconsideration, and 
 perhaps a reversal. 
 
 Some may ask, ‘Why decide early upon the claims of 
 the heathen world, and not also decide early upon the 
 relative claims of the different parts of our own country?’ 
 And truly I see no objection to deciding upon them too, 
 whenever the duty can be made clear. This latter ques- 
 tion, however, is not one of so easy solution at an early 
 period of our preparatory studies, as the other. The 
 relative necessities, and of course the claims, of some 
 parts of our country, are rapidly changing; and-there is | 
 not such a broad distinction existing between any of 
 them, as is found on comparing our own country with the 
 heathen world. Moreover, the difference between paro- 
 chial life in our northern and middle States, and that of a 
 missionary in our western settlements, is not of so serious 
 a nature, as that which distinguishes a foreign from a 
 domestic mission. ‘The labors of a foreign missionary, 
 and his exposures and hardships, may not be greater than 
 those of a missionary in our new settlements; and, in 
 many instances, there may be less of travel, and more of 
 the conveniences of life. But the sorest trials of a mis- 
 
 sionary, whether he be foreign or domestic, are those 
 
 which chiefly concern the spirit; and this is pre-eminently 
 true of him, whose dwelling and labors are in the midst 
 of a heathen people. He is peculiarly insulated from the 
 

 
 4 On Deciding Early to become 
 
 religious world—from society congenial to a man who has 
 been nurtured in a civilized community—from that sym- 
 pathetic, companionable intercourse, which ministers In 
 this country may soon find almost everywhere. And 
 even when God blesses the labors of a foreign missionary, 
 and multiplies converts among the heathen around him, 
 though this must be a source of unspeakable joy, those 
 converts do not rise so high on the scale of intelligence, 
 but that they are still far below him in almost all that 
 constitutes a foundation for free and familiar intercourse 
 between mind and mind. They are children—emphati- 
 cally babes in Christ. 
 
 The limits of this article do not allow me to illustrate 
 the numerous other points of difference. Some of- them 
 are sufficiently obvious. It is a serious matter to leave 
 one’s friends and country for life, and spend that life 
 amid the darkness and pollution of heathenism. The 
 question whether we shall remove far to the west, and 
 preach the gospel there, and raise up families there, 
 where the wave of civilization will inevitably overtake us 
 ina few years, is nothing, in comparison with the other; 
 —much less is that, whether we shall build up waste 
 places surrounded by the institutions and privileges of 
 our older States. 
 
 The way is now prepared for stating some of the prin- 
 cipal reasons in favor of an early decision of the ques- 
 tion, whether we ought to become missionaries to the 
 heathen. 
 
 1. Incollege, and sometimes in the academy, the student 
 may enjoy nearly or quite all the helps in forming a de- 
 cision, that he will find in the theological seminary. With 
 a little pains he may have access to all the important 
 books, and to intelligent and discreet advisers, and may 
 gain all the essential information respecting the moral 
 condition of the world. There is not a principal, and 
 there is scarcely a fact, bearing on the case, of which he 
 may not obtain as full possession before, as after, he 
 
 enters the theological seminary. What need, then, of. 
 
 delay? Is the student competent to decide the momentous 
 question, whether he ought to be a minister of Christ, 
 and yet, with the data all before him, can he not deter- 
 
 ee a 
 
 
 
a a aR 
 
 a 
 
 Ca dl a 
 
 RS ae ae ee 
 
 
 
 
 
 a Missionary to the Heathen. . 6 
 
 mine whether it be lawful for him to devote himself to the 
 service of Christ in heathen lands? 
 
 Indeed, I believe the student may not only ascertain 
 his personal duty to the heathen at an early period of his 
 education, but that he may then ascertain it with com- 
 parative ease,—being, in some respects, more favorably 
 situated for deciding correctly, than at the more advanc- 
 ed periods. The subject is really very simple; and it is 
 most apt to appear so to the student while his position is 
 remote from the world. He, too, is then more entirely 
 uncommitted; and his views of the comparative claims of 
 the heathen world upon himself, will be more likely to 
 accord with what is the actual fact, than in the later 
 stages. Hence the reason why you find a greater pro- 
 portion of pious students beginning to prepare for the 
 ministry with some special reference to a mission in hea- 
 then lands, than you see entering the field of foreign 
 missions. 
 
 2. An early decision is desirable in reference to its 
 bearing on the mind and conscience of the student. 
 Whether he desires to make advances in learning, or 
 grace, he should aim to preserve a tranquil mind. He 
 should have as few unsettled and perplexing questions of 
 duty as possible. He should endeavor always to preserve 
 peace of conscience, that he may have joy in the Holy 
 Ghost. When cases of conscience arise, and demand a 
 settlement, he should endeavor to settle them thoroughly 
 and speedily. He must either do this, or else do violence 
 to his moral nature; and if the case be one of importance 
 
 and of frequent recurrence, he must either determine it, 
 
 or submit to the alternative of suffering much inquietude, 
 and of weakening his conscience, if not all his mental 
 powers. Now it is true of some institutions of learning, 
 with which I am acquainted, that duty to the heathen 
 early becomes in them a serious question of conscience. 
 In several theological seminaries, it is among the first 
 and most solemn inquiries, of a prospective nature, excit- 
 ed in the minds of students newly entered. And as the 
 cause of missions advances, the members of all our semi- 
 naries will find it more and more difficult to avoid com- 
 ing toa speedy decision; and their interest, as well as 
 1* 
 

 
 “ue 
 
 6 On Deciding Early to become 
 
 duty, in such cases, will obviously be to make up their 
 minds with as little delay as possible. The only way in 
 which they will be able to avoid meeting the subject, will 
 be to place themselves in the attitude of resistance to the 
 light, and to be less active in promoting the cause of 
 Christ, than they otherwise might be—and thus greatly 
 retard their growth in grace, and their preparation for 
 usefulness. ‘The wisest course for them will be that de- 
 scribed in the proposition I am endeavoring to establish. 
 Let the inquiry come up early in the seminary, if it has 
 not been settled before; or, what is better still, let it come 
 up in the college; let it be met with a cheerful determina- 
 tion to examine into its merits; let the only question be, 
 ‘Where will the Lord have me go, when my preparations 
 for the ministry are completed?” And let the decision be 
 formed in view of the existing indications of Providence. 
 Whenever these indications materially change, or when 
 the mind is led to regard them in new lights, then let the 
 student inquire how his relations to the heathen world are 
 affected by the change. Thusthe mind will be preserved 
 from useless and worse than useless agitation, and will 
 always be cheerfully advancing with a definite object in 
 view. . | 
 
 3. A student who decides early to devote himself to 
 the cause of foreign missions, will be more useful to that 
 cause during his studies preparatory to the ministry, than 
 he otherwise would be. Indeed, should he, after a con- 
 scientious examination of the subject, decide that it is his 
 duty to go on a domestic mission, or to settle near his pa- 
 ternal home, I should expect him to be more active and 
 efficient in the cause of foreign missions, than while he 
 holds his mind in suspense. What I wish to see is, an 
 early investigation and decision—no halting between two 
 opinions—no shrinking from this great question of duty. 
 But, if a man is led by his views of duty heartily to con- 
 secrate himself to the work of evangelizing the heathen, 
 such a man begins immediately to think, with a special 
 interest, how he may increase the number of missionaries, 
 and the means of sending them forth, and how the deep 
 intellectual and moral gloom resting upon the heathen 
 world may be dispelled. There is no estimating how de- 
 
 
 
 
 
a Missionary to the Heathen. 7 
 
 sirable it is that every college and seminary in the land 
 have such men among its students. What may not aman 
 devoted to missions do in the seven or eight years of his 
 preparatory studies? ‘The greater part of the influence, 
 which Samuel J. Mills exerted directly upon foreign mis- 
 sions, and which has given him an imperishable name in 
 our churches, he exerted while in the college and semi- 
 nary. He decided on his duty to the heathen before en- 
 tering college—imparted the noble design, which the 
 Spirit of God had implanted in his own bosom, to the 
 kindred minds of Hall and Richards, whose dust now 
 rests beneath the sods of India—and, after seeking divine 
 direction many times on the banks of the Hoosack, form- 
 ed a society, in which the members pledged themselves to 
 effect, in their own persons, a mission among the heathen. 
 Here was the germ of our foreign missions, and it was 
 the fruit of an early decision. Had Mills, and Hall, and 
 Richards, and Fisk, and others who might be named, de- 
 ferred all consideration of the subject till they were on 
 the point of entering the ministry, what a loss would the 
 cause have sustained! And what good will be prevented, 
 if the maxim, controverted in this paper, becomes a com- 
 mon law of duty to our pious students! Every man hasa 
 circle of friends of greater or less extent, and an early 
 decision to be a missionary gives him time and power to 
 exert a salutary influence upon them. If he is @ man of. 
 the right character and spirit, his influence will increase 
 from year to year, and he may often effect as much for the 
 cause, during the last two or three years of his residence 
 in his own country, as in the first three or four of his la- 
 bors among the heathen. Where we especially need the 
 influence of such men, however, is in our public institu- 
 tions of learning. Men in these institutions, who are not 
 themselves decided to be missionaries, will rarely make 
 vigorous attempts to persuade others to devote themselves 
 to a foreign mission; and if they do make an effort, in 
 public addresses to their fellow-students, while they are 
 themselves generally supposed not to have given the sub- 
 ject a thorough investigation in regard to their own duty, 
 (as I have sometimes known to be the case,) the effect is 
 anything but that which they aim to produce. Buta 
 
 
 

 
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 Fe: 
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 Re 
 
 “5 SOT 
 
 8 , On Deciding Early to become 
 
 man, who has given himself to this work, and is sincere- 
 ly devoted, heartly interested, discreetly zealous, and 
 properly qualified, may almost certainly i increase the num- 
 ber of missionaries. And those, to whose direction mis- 
 sions among the heathen are especially committed, need 
 such co-workers in all our colleges and religious semi- 
 naries. 
 
 4, Anearly decision in favor of becoming a missionary 
 to the heathen, makes a man more courageous and cheerful 
 when in the field of missions. I believe this is the general 
 experience of those missionaries, who came to their de- 
 cision early, of whom the number is considerable. By 
 long anticipation, they had become in a manner familiar- 
 ized with the missionary life before they entered upon it. 
 Its peculiar trials were in some good degree understood, 
 and the mind and heart acquires a sort of assimilation to 
 the missionary work. his lightened the shock, which 
 must always be felt on transferring our residence from a 
 civilized and Christian land to one that is heathen and 
 barbarous. The disgusting manners of the people, their 
 sottish ignorance, their deep degradation, and their hor- 
 rid rites, had been contemplated for years, and again and 
 again had the work been chosen with these things all in 
 view. And when, after long and laborious toil, the ob- 
 stinacy of the heathen still seemed unbroken, and success 
 delayed, causing the spirits to flag, and faith sometimes 
 to tremble; the mind was not invaded and harassed by 
 misgivings on the subject of duty, as might have been the 
 case had not the subject, for a course of years before en- 
 tering the heathen world, often been carried to the throne 
 of grace, and considered in all its bearings in the light of 
 God’s word. ‘These seasons are recollected in days of 
 adversity, and are as anchors tothe soul. ‘It looks dark,”’ 
 the missionary says to himself, ‘‘but here is the field of 
 my duty. Lam where I ought to be, and God will not 
 forsake me.” He had long before taken time to lay a 
 broad and deep foundation, and his superstructure stands. 
 He went to the heathen from no sudden impulse of pas- 
 sion, but from a long revolved conviction of duty, to 
 which the feelings of his heart and the habits of his mind 
 gradually came into sweet subserviency. ‘Till that con- 
 
 Pa 
 
 
 

 
 a Missionary to the Heathen. 9 
 
 viction is destroyed, he will find delight in his work, and 
 on the whole, will be contented and happy. ‘To have this 
 conviction of duty well rooted in the mind, when the mis- 
 sionary isin the midst of disheartening trials with few 
 outward supports, is of itself a sufficient reason for begin- 
 ning early to look seriously at the subject, and, indeed, 
 for looking at it with reference to a speedy decision;—for, 
 whoever commences an inquiry with a determination to 
 hold his mind in suspense whatever may be the merits 
 of the case, will certainly be superficial in his examina- 
 tion. 
 
 5. An early consecration to the missionary work will 
 render aman more efficient and useful as a missionary. 
 It will do this for the reasons mentioned under the pre- 
 ceding head; and also, by the attainments it will lead 
 him to make with particular reference to a mission, while 
 acquiring his education, and by the effect it will be likely 
 to exert on his intellectual and mora! character. What- 
 ever increases a man’s courage and cheerfulness in the 
 performance of the missionary work, increases his use- 
 fulness. The fact of having come to an early decision, 
 and of having had the work long before the mind, may 
 sometimes be the very thing, which God employs to sus- 
 tain a missiwnary under sharp adversity, and prevent his 
 sinking in despondency and leaving the field. Besides, 
 he who has had the missionary life in view through nearly 
 the whole course of his education, will necessarily ac- 
 quire a great number of principles and facts and consider- 
 ations, which would probably be overlooked by scholars 
 having in view only the common circumstances and du- 
 ties of pastoral life, and which, in thousands of instances, 
 will be of use to him. ‘These peculiar acquisitions are 
 such as may be made, and ought to be made, without neg- 
 lecting any of the studies required in the collegiate and 
 theological course So far as I have yet learned, all those 
 studies are as important for the missionary, as they are 
 for the minister at home; and there is this additional rea- 
 son why the candidate for a mission should give them 
 thorough attention, that it is almost certain he will have 
 little opportunity to revise them after he has entered the 
 field of his labors. 
 
 A hae Fs 
 
 
 
AAAS ARTA LOT ATRL RNS ATTN RNAi FRENTE ITNT ENR RRR At ERP ER SOIT SN A 
 UR Tssb nits cedediadlabisinaliid ee 
 a 3 
 
 
 
 10 On Deciding Early to become 
 
 In addition to the peculiar acquisitions just now men- 
 tioned—which will bear some proportion to the length of 
 time between the forming of the decision and the depar- 
 ture on a mission—there will be an important influence 
 exerted upon all the other acquisitions, with direct refer- 
 ence to the missionary work. ‘The degree of this influence 
 must of course vary in different men. Where there is 
 that intense interest in the cause of missions, which is " 
 desirable in all who aspire to a mission among the hea- 
 then, the mind will make all its acquisitions under the 
 _ influence of this ruling passion. It is easy to find illus 
 } trations of this principle. The student who has given his 
 : soul to medicine, or the law, digests and secretes his 
 1 learning (so to speak) according to the laws of the pro- 
 fession he has taken. The mere divine, makes every 
 thing bear upon natural and revealed religion. He who, 
 like Payson, has consecrated every faculty to the high 
 | endeavor of drawing sinners to Christ, converts every 
 7 thing into argument to flee from the wrath to come. So 
 he who has devoted himself to the enterprise of impart- : 
 ing the knowledge and blessings of the gospel to the hea- : 
 j then world, makes his acquisitions, and associates and 
 stores them in the mind, with reference to that object. 
 | Ideas of all sorts, as they enter his mind, are marshalled 
 } and trained for the spiritual and holy wars of foreign con- 
 quests. I cannot conceive of a more desirable influence; 
 nor can I help regretting that it cannot always be felt 
 ; through the whole course of that man’s education, who is 
 destined to become a missionary in pagan lands. 
 
 I shall not do justice to this subject, unless I mention 
 the influence which an early decision to be a missionary 
 may be expected to have upon the heart. Let it be re- 
 membered, that I am not speaking of a devotion to the 
 cause in which the affections of the heart are imperfectly 
 enlisted; but of a devotion in which they are all active. 
 The decision, which is the ground of all my illustrations, 
 is formed no less by the heart, than by the judgment. The 
 whole soul chooses, and chooses cordially and joyfully. I 
 wish not to speak of this particular exercise of Christian 
 duty so as to excite spiritual pride in those who have de- 
 termined to be missionaries. Let such as have been led to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Se, eg tote 
 
 
 
 os 
 
 arene hn ess 
 
 ee 
 
 
 
a Missionary to the Heathen. 11 
 
 resolve on proclaiming their Savior’s love to nations that 
 never heard the glad tidings, give Him the glory, and 
 wonder that they should be sent on an errand which 
 angels from heaven would rejoice to perform. It is ob- 
 vious, however, that next to the determination which 
 gave the soul to God, the decision to devote one’s life to 
 preaching the gospel to the heathen, must be the most 
 important of those voluntary acts, which the grace of God 
 employs to set the soul at liberty from the enchantments 
 of the world. At God’s command, the man resolves, like 
 Abraham, to go out from his own country, probably with- 
 out knowing where, and to become a stranger and pilgrim 
 on the earth. He chooses a course of living for his whole 
 earthly existence, which, if he has just notions of it, can 
 appear desirable and tolerable only as the soul is ani- 
 mated and sustained by the faith that “overcometh the 
 world.” Such a choice, sincerely and understandingly 
 made, must exert a great influence on the heart; for the 
 influence of it must reach every earthly thing, and tend 
 strongly to shut the world out from the affections, and to 
 open the soul to the afflations of the Spirit. From the 
 moment, too, in which a man forms this decision, he 
 realizes, more affectingly than perhaps he otherwise could 
 do, the relations he sustains, as a disciple of Christ, to 
 the world of souls in pagan darkness. ‘They are brought 
 nearer, and seem more like neighbors and kinsmen. The 
 motives, which act on his benevolent regards, are increased 
 prodigiously in magnitude and power. Numbers, extension : 
 variety, all lay siege to his heart with mighty force. Six 
 hundred millions of men, living in a moral gloom as dark 
 as midnight; and this vast multitude spread over three- 
 fourths of the world—found in all climes—exhibiting 
 every painful variety of human condition and character— 
 going from this state of probation at the rate of a million 
 and a half a month, and in thirty years all gone! What 
 affecting, what overwhelming objects of contemplation to 
 any pious man; but peculiarly so to him, who has chosen 
 his earthly home among those very millions. Let the 
 decision, then, be formed early, that such contemplations 
 may exert their influence on the heart for a longer time, 
 rousing its sensibilities into habitual activity, and impart- 
 
 
 
12 On Deciding Early to become 
 
 ing comprehensiveness and efficiency to its desires. This 
 will be a qualification of a high order for a mission to the 
 unevangelized world. 
 
 6. An early decision to be a missionary, will be no 
 disadvantage to a man, who ts providentially prevented 
 from becoming one. It will rather be an advantage. 
 Some of the most devoted ministers in our churches, 
 once had a foreign mission in view for a considerable 
 period of time. ‘T’hey did not go, because unforeseen 
 and unavoidable occurrences prevented, making it neces- 
 sary for them to remain in their own country. ‘They lost 
 no character by so doing, because it was manifestly their 
 duty to relinquish their purpose. Neither did the ‘“‘God 
 of all grace’ forsake them. They were enabled to carry 
 their missionary fervor into their parishes. They remem- 
 bered the heathen themselves, and suffered not their peo- 
 ple to forget them. The acquisitions they had made in 
 missionary history, while looking forward to a mission, 
 and the habits they then acquired of reading, remember- 
 ing, and communicating missionary intelligence, laid a 
 foundation for their usefulness as pastors in a most impor- 
 
 tant, but much neglected, department of ministerial duty. 
 
 Their monthly concerts were not suffered to become 
 lifeless and unedifying. Those occasions were embraced 
 for opening the volume of God's providence, which is full 
 of matter. At any rate, the habits acquired, and the at- 
 tainments commonly made, by persons who, for several 
 years, have a mission constantly in view, must be exceed- 
 ingly favorable to the performance of this and other kin- 
 dred duties of a parish minister. 
 
 Nor will it be any disadvantage to the parish minister 
 to have cherished for years a spirit of self-denying enter- 
 prise, with reference to a mission in remote and _ bar- 
 barous countries. He will be none the less faithful as a 
 preacher; none the less active and enterprising as a pas- 
 tor; none the less alive to the calls of Christian charity; 
 none the less ‘‘a workman that needeth not to be asham- 
 ed, rightly dividing” to every one, and to every object of 
 pastoral duty, ‘‘the word of truth.” 
 
 7. An early and serious consideration of this subject, 
 with a view to a speedy decision, either that tt is or is not 
 
 a) 
 
 
 
a Missionary to the Heathen. 13 
 
 our duty to become missionaries, with an occasional recon- 
 sideration of the subject, is the most likely way of avoid- 
 ing mistakes in regard to our proper sphere of labor. I 
 repeat what I have already said, that it is of the greatest 
 Importance to us to be in that field in which God would 
 have us be. And there will be many seasons, in the 
 course of our lives, when it will support us exceedingly to 
 be in possession of ample and clear evidence, that such is 
 the fact. How, then, shall we avoid mistakes in the se- 
 lection of this field, and how shall we acquire this evi- 
 dence? Shall we do it, by delaying all serious thought 
 on the subject, till we have so little time left us, and so 
 many applications from different quarters, as to create a 
 feverish anxiety in the mind? Shall we do it, when, im- 
 mediately after our decision is made, we are under the 
 necessity of committing ourselves, either by accepting or 
 refusing an appointment from some church or benevolent 
 society? And can we do it, if we postpone all thorough 
 mvestigation till the close of our preparatory studies, and 
 then, at the last, yield without much reflection, to the 
 force of any current that happens to strike us? Certain 
 it is, that not so many have gone to the heathen, as ought 
 to have gone, and therefore some must have mistaken the 
 field of their duty! How desirable that they had examin- 
 ed more thoroughly, and reflected more profoundly! Had 
 they pursued the course recommended in this article, they 
 could scarcely have fallen into such an error. And who- 
 ever comes to the question early, with a sincere desire to 
 know and do his duty, and with fervent prayer for divine 
 guidance; and decides early, with an humble reference 
 to the divine will, and occasionally reconsiders the 
 grounds of his decision; and habitually cherishes a be- 
 nevolent and obedient spirit—will be likely to understand 
 where the Head of the church requires him to exercise 
 his ministry. : 
 
 In concluding this article, | ask, Whether there are 
 not many, well qualified to be missionaries, who have 
 more fear lest they should go without being sent, than 
 they have lest they shall stay at home when they are com- 
 manded to go? To them I would put the question, 
 Whether the greatest danger is not the other way? Does 
 
 2 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 44 On Deciding Early to become 
 
 not the tide of feeling, in the great body of our pious stu- 
 dents, set against the life of a foreign missionary? Far 
 be it from me to intimate, that there is no danger of a 
 man’s mistaking the field of his duty when he decides to 
 become a missionary. Such mistakes have been commit- 
 ted, and have had a most unhappy influence; and the 
 inquiry should be approached with a godly jealousy of 
 our motives, and with humble prayer for the illumina- 
 tions of the Spirit. But I insist that, taking into view 
 the whole body of young men preparing for the ministry, 
 the paramount danger is, that a man will give undue 
 force to the reasons in favor of spending his life in his 
 own country. 
 
 And now, what is it that I ask? Not that a man 
 should become a foreign missionary; not that he should 
 decide in favor of becoming one; but that he should look 
 the question of his duty in the face, and look at it early in 
 his education, and look at it with the determination to 
 discover his duty if possible, and to do his duty.* Is 
 there any danger in this course? And is there any man, 
 so destitute of moral courage and of the spirit of obe- 
 dience to Christ, that he shrinks from this mquiry? Are 
 you afraid that you shall be told to proclaim to the hea- 
 then the unsearchable riches of Christ? Consider well 
 what you do. You have consecrated yourself to the Lord 
 Jesus, and have solemnly engaged to do his will, and you 
 will gain nothing by a neglect of your duty. No path 
 will be so good for you as that—wherever it may lead— 
 which your divine master shall prescribe. Nowhere 
 else will you be so respectable, and happy, and useful; 
 nowhere else will you find so much joy in God—a hope 
 so full of immortality. Stray from that path, and you 
 are on forbidden ground. You may avoid the wilderness 
 and many arugged steep, but must not expect God to 
 accompany you, unless it be with the rod of rebuke. 
 
 You need have no fear whatever of this question. If 
 it shall be your duty to leave your country and the charms 
 of cultivated and Christian society, and you resolve to do 
 
 * As an excellent help in relation to this subject, I recommend a work 
 lately republished in this country, entitled, “Swan’s Letters on Missions:” 
 indeed it should not fail of being attentively. perused. 
 
 
 
& 
 
 a Missionary to the Heathen. 15 
 
 so, you will have grace imparted to make the sacrifice 
 with cheerfulness. He who commands you to go, engages 
 to go with you; and he will go with you, and will give 
 you “manifold more in this present time, and in the world 
 to come life everlasting.” 
 
 Should friends object to a man’s devoting himself 
 to a foreign mission, let him bring all their objections 
 to the light of God’s word; and if they will not bear that 
 light, he must not allow them to have any weight in de- 
 termining the merits of the case; but if they will bear the 
 light, they are among the facts which he is seriously to 
 consider. 
 
 The probability or improbability that the churches will 
 furnish the requisite means of sending him forth, need 
 not come into the inquiry. I am not aware that any 
 man, well qualified for missionary service, has ever yet 
 been rejected because there were not the pecuniary 
 means for supporting him among the heathen. I trust 
 this never will be necessary. The disposition of the 
 churches to make pecuniary contributions to the mis- 
 sionary cause, will generally be greater or less, very much 
 in proportion to the number of suitable men who are 
 pressing into the field. 
 
 When a decision is formed to become a missionary, 
 the proper course to pursue in relation to it is, neither to 
 take pains to conceal it, nor to make it known. If aman 
 is under the guidance of humble benevolence, with his 
 selfish desires subdued by love to Christ and to souls 
 redeemed by the blood of Christ, he will be in little dan- 
 ger of ostentation, and need not fear the consequences of 
 having it known that he is aspiring to the missionary 
 office, even should he afterwards find that his duty re- 
 quires him to remain at home. A sincere regard for 
 duty, and a resolute pursuit of it, are far less apt to be in- 
 jJurious to a man’s usefulness, than is a timorous shrink- 
 ing from responsibility when duty calls. 
 
 
 
Sp 
 
 = - 2 pe remo — = = = 
 ey 8 ‘di : 
 oe ee ee a a sea 
 
 On becoming a missionary. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM SWAN’S LETTERS ON MISSIONS 
 
 “T am clearly of opinion that many individuals, ministers, 
 students, and private members of churches of various 
 ranks who are staying at home, ought ‘‘to forsake all” and 
 follow Christ as preachers of the gospel to the poor dying 
 heathen. This is an awfully serious subject. It involves 
 nothing less, so far as human agents are concerned, than 
 the question, whether these millions upon millions of idol- 
 aters shall live and die, ‘without Christ and without hope 
 in the world,’ or whether ‘they shall hear the gospel, and 
 believe and be saved?’ O what a tremendous responsibility 
 rests with them who have the bread of life! I make no 
 allusion to individuals. I have no particular body of 
 Christians in my eye. But I cannot help thinking that I 
 see in this want of real, practical, effective concern for 
 the souls of perishing men—this want of zeal in spread- 
 ing the gospel among the heathen—onz reason why the 
 faithful preaching of it is so little blessed at home. Is 
 there not room to suspect that God may be looking with 
 a frown instead of a smile upon the labors of a man, who, 
 faithfully as he may be preaching the gospel to a congre- 
 gation of professed Christians, is hiding in a corner 
 among them the talent that might have told with effect 
 against the fabric of heathen idolatry? Is there not rea- 
 son to suspect that he may here find the secret cause of 
 his laboring from Sabbath to Sabbath, and from. year to 
 year, without seeing much, if any, actual fruit of his la- 
 bors?’ Is there not reason to suspect that the church, sit- 
 ting under its own vine and fig-tree, but, after the exam- 
 ple of its pastor, little caring for others, should have little 
 of the presence of God in their souls and little manifesta- 
 tion of his blessing among them asa body? ‘There is 
 that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that with- 
 holdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty.’ If 
 they concern not themselves about sending food to them 
 that are perishing of hunger, is it to be wondered at if 
 God command the clouds that they rain no rain upon their 
 vineyard; and that he withholds his blessing both from 
 their basket and their store?” 
 
 
 

 
h aiadice Nui Patil a 
 
 lil nai bl SS AS aia 
 
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