on fat) + Sas - =e — ee —— % 4 oe nt BUS FO Pe eee Resi Ee NUD Rilo cs Dy Dalat oe The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary SUSAR SASYS BY BISHOP E. R. HENDRIX, D.D., LL.D. 265 Missionary Training School T905 pee eee Se Seid beens ah ee =: SHy 8 eer is: Be ¥ fi fe Si ae a paca Tuts address, which was delivered in the Mis- sionary Training School February 1, 1905, made a profound impression. On hearing the address a representative of the Southern Presbyterian Board of Missions requested that it be published immediately, and offered to take half of the first edition of ten thousand copies for use in his own denomination. The School is grateful to the au- thor for this clear, strong, spiritual message, and the booklet is sent forth with the assurance that it will render a large service to the cause of mis- sions.— EDITOR. (3) The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary. HE Lord of the harvest still graciously re- minds his faithful messengers: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.” This is their strength: that He who has called will sus- tain. Both “apostle” and “missionary” mean “one who is sent.’’ Sent by whom, and for what purpose? By the same Lord who sublimely ex- pected and predicted a line of heralds from As- cension to Advent, from Olivet to the “day of the Lord.” Only a divine Lord can plan and direct so divine a mission or sending. Man’s mind is overwhelmed by the extent of the field and the vastness of the work, even though he compre- hend but a very small part of either. The most gifted of men have pronounced the scheme im- practicable and impossible. Their minds have never been opened and expanded as were the minds of the apostles, the first missionaries, by the vision of the risen and living Lord. Only one risen from the dead can enterprise the (5) 6 The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary world’s evangelization, and only those who know the power of his resurrection are prepared to obey his great commission. It is the omnipotent God alone who calls and qualifies the missionary. The last word, whether of science or religion, is that all power is in God. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” He who hath gathered and holdeth the winds in his fists hath even in these later centuries commanded the winds and the seas that they obeyed him. It was not only when the Spanish Armada proudly threatened Protestant England that God fought the battle with thunderbolts, but when William III. came at the bidding of the great patriots of England to claim his throne against the bitter opposition of the Papacy. Macaulay’s thrilling narrative tells of “the Protestant wind” for which the devout ever prayed until the successful land- ing’ made possible the security of the Protestant succession. The story of missions is the story of such signal manifestations of power when most needed as to prove that God still watches over his own by land and sea. So the Holy Spirit not The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary T _ only breathes upon the face of the waters, but on the minds and hearts of men—a more difficult work, because of the inertia and even opposition of the human will. But, whether in Christian or in pagan lands, the Lord of the harvest will con- tinue to thrust out laborers until the harvest is gathered. The only hope of the world’s redemption is in codperation with God. Philanthropists have found that out, and despair of doing anything worth while unless in accordance with God’s re- vealed will and plans. Mere desire for useful- ness, however worthy the motive, can never gather in the world harvest. Men faint in the way unless conscious of God’s leadership and help. Not the philanthropic but the thean- thropic motive is essential. Unless the love of Christ constrain, men abandon the task as hope- less. They need to catch His spirit who, having loved his own, loved them unto the end. It is the Good Shepherd who seeks for the lost sheep until he finds them. Hence the ministry has been guarded against men who would enter it because it is a respectable calling and affords op- portunity of usefulness and social position, rank- ing it among the professions of which the num- The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary ber is ever growing. The solemn question is asked before one is admitted to the office and work of the ministry: “Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you the office of the ministry?” Unless that question is answered aright, no man, however gifted and furnished, can enter the sacred office. The Holy Spirit as administrator of the affairs of the kingdom must choose his own agents and commission them. It is the Lord’s work, not man’s. Unless the Church can say, “It seems good to the Holy Ghost and to us,” no true suc- cess can be expected in sending out laborers into the harvest. Two things are essential in every call to coop- erate with God in the work of saving the world. The first is a supreme sense of the glory of God. No ambassador is sent forth by a European mon- arch who does not go forth after a personal in- terview with his king. He goes forth as his per- sonal representative, and must everywhere be re- ceived as such. He must therefore be impressed with the power and dignity of the royal throne, and know the will of his sovereign. He is always a representative, an ambassador, one who is sent. The moment he forgets his representative capac- The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary 9 ity he becomes disqualified. The more fully he represents the august power that sent him, the better foreign minister he becomes. Navies stand ready to carry out his will when it is also the will of his sovereign. He dare have no other will. He is strong alone in his representative capacity. Cables throb with daily messages from the throne that sent him. It is his to know and impress others with the power and dignity of his own government. So it is always with the ambassa- dors of our Lord. We must never for one mo- ment forget who sent us, and whose will we are commissioned to carry out, and whose power is pledged to sustain us so long as we are seeking to make known and to do that will. The greatest messengers of God have always been Calvinists on their knees and Arminians on their feet. “Our wills are ours to make them Thine.’”’ Thus are we authenticated of God. “The Spirit and the gifts are ours Through Him that with us sideth.” So sang Martin Luther in his great battle hymn, whose echoes fill the ages. Then there must be a deep sense of the worth of human souls. No man who underestimates or disparages his fellow-men can do his best work I 10 The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary for God. Lord Bacon said: “The reverence of a man’s self is, next to religion, the chiefest bri- dle of all vices.’ We must awaken that self-rev- erence by ever remembering and teaching what man is in the thought and love of God. If we would show our love to God, we must feed his sheep and his lambs. Remember what we might be without his grace. John Newton once said: “Only the God who made the worlds can make a preacher.” It needs God’s patience and for- bearance to make anything out of us, and to make us channels of blessing to others. “I will bless thee and make thee a blessing.”” The measure of our own blessing is our power to bless others. This was the blessing of Jacob and of Peter, the power to strengthen their brethren. What had not God overcome in them to make them a bless- ing to others! The first law of architecture is the strength of the building material. Unless we have faith in man under God, we can never build anything for God. Man must be strengthened with might by God’s Spirit in the inner man, and the building material in China will stand any tests ever used in the days of the martyrs in the Ten Persecutions under the Roman Empire, when the blood of the martyrs became the seed of The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary 11 the Church. We must ever look for the better things in men and appeal to the good in them, bidding them not be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good. The mere sense of the need of the heathen world is not enough. The missionary who goes out with that as the principal motive is doomed to become bankrupt in faith, in courage, in hope, and so in love. The hopeless ignorance of the heathen, who have been robbed of the knowledge of every attribute of God, their thraldom to super- stition and vice of every sort, can but fill with despair unless one has the spirit of Christ. Fel- lowship with Christ is the ultimate ground of missionary effort and the ultimate secret of mis- sionary success. “Without me ye can do noth- ing” was spoken by the Master even to the apos- tles. It was not his words that they needed, but himself. Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, or nothing will come of your sym- pathy with human wretchedness and need. But “T can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Then it is most vital to remember that our Lord has not two calls to the ministry—one to the home field and the other to the foreign field— 12 The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary but one. The field is one, and the field is the world. But one commission was ever given, and that was the great commission to preach the gos- pel to every creature, and to go into all the world for that end. Our Lord never promised his pres- ence save as men went out under that commis- sion to disciple the nations. He fixes the eye of every commissioned minister on the remotest nations, the last man, so that whatever be the work nearest us, whether at home or abroad, we must ever bear in mind that it is world-wide work, and that we dare not forget that the ends of the earth are to call upon God through our ministry. No other commission would have been worthy of the lips of the Son of God, and no other commission would have been sufficient to broaden and strengthen man for his holy calling. An unlimited atonement means a world-wide min- istry. A world-wide commission is necessary to make us ministers at all, to save us from selfish and narrow views of the gospel. During the eighteenth century, when England became un- mindful of this true commission, there was ground for Voltaire’s sneer that “the English people suppose that God had become incarnate only for the Anglo-Saxon race.” Its gospel was The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary 13 without power until it throbbed with the life- blood of the Great Commission. It is true to-day that the preachers whose ministry is most blessed of God are those who recognize but one commis- sion and keep in touch with the ends of the earth in every sermon and every prayer. There dare be no mental reservation in any commissioned preacher. If he has not accepted the great and one commission, he may well ques- tion whether he ever had any at all, or has lost it. Wherever the providence of God may place a minister as his special and immediate field, his gospel must go out into all the world if it be the true gospel. It is difficult in these days to find a minister of such little faith as not to believe in foreign missions. If there be one, he may well reconsider his own commission or how fully he obeys it. Four things may excuse a man from going to the foreign field: 1. Enfeebled health. So exacting are the du- ties of a missionary amid the unsanitary condi- tions of pagan lands, the home of pestilence whence came the fearful visitations formerly even to Christian lands, that vigorous health is abso- lutely necessary. Soldiers and sailors must un- 14 The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary dergo rigid physical examinations before they are pronounced fit for service in foreign lands. No officer can be promoted to a higher rank save as his physical examination shows that his health justifies what his attainments would otherwise warrant. So vital is health to the preacher that in the Wesleyan ministry in Great Britain a sat- isfactory physical examination is deemed essen- tial, whether the candidate be accepted for work at home or abroad. It is all-important that a high estimate be placed upon physical health as well as upon mental and spiritual vigor, A man should be ashamed, as a rule, when he is sick, knowing that his sickness is usually due either to ignorance of the laws of health or willful viola- tion of them. One who suffers from feeble health at home can expect to suffer more among the untoward conditions which obtain where med- ical science has not yet taught its sanitary lessons. Some foreign climates are peculiarly unfavorable to certain diseases, as catarrh, tuberculosis, rheu- matism, susceptibility to malaria; feeble heart ac- tion, etc. 2. Inability to acquire a foreign language. There is a language-learning period (usually un- der thirty) when, if a man cannot master a for- The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary 15 eign tongue, he can never hope to do so. Whatever be the cause, whether feeble mental powers or some mental idiosyncrasy, when the mind is oth- erwise vigorous, the inability to be able aiter due trial to speak to the people in the language in which they were born offers such hindrance to great usefulness as to forbid the continuance of such a missionary in the field. We know how the broken speech of foreigners who cannot acquire the English tongue unfits them for even the hum- blest positions among us. Much more would they be unfitted for positions of influence such as belong to those who are “apt to teach.” Such embarrassments come to missionaries themselves from their comrades who never acquire the ver- nacular of the land where they are supposed to labor that it were better that these should not re- main in the foreign field. As the venerable Dr. Happer, long of Canton, used to say: “Tf the Church at home knew the facts, so far from com- plaining of returned missionaries they would com- plain of some who won’t return.” Their places had best be filled with those whose acquirement of a foreign language is not so difficult a task. “The common people will not trust a man who cannot speak their language.” 16 The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary 3. Where family obligations are peculiarly im- perative. One whose aged parent is a hopeless invalid, or whose duties to some other invalid or helpless relative clearly indicate that the first duty is at home, can with a good conscience postpone any consideration of special duty abroad. There is no real conflict between duties. Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind. It is not every opposition of parents that should bar one’s way to the foreign field. Sometimes parents have only a_selfish motive in their wish to retain at home one who would gladly obey the heavenly vision of duty. This may be due to a lack of broad views or of deep consecration, or even to unwillingness to be separated from a son or daughter. No such barriers should hinder one’s obedience to the voice of God. Even a marriage engagement may yield where the opposition shows a probable unfitness for Christian service. More than one eminently useful missionary has found his life companion in a like-minded fellow- worker in the field after being compelled to ask release from an engagement that promised only unhappiness if consummated in marriage. A heart, or rather a hand, that is won by the pros- pect of an easy parish or a wealthy Church is The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary 17 hardly worth the winning or having. While such imperative duties, as indicated, may hold one at home, yet the utmost wisdom should be used in reaching a conclusion which may shape one’s en- tire life work. 4. A manifest and imperative call of Provi- dence to some distinctive work at home. This may be educational, evangelistic, or administra- tive, owing to a man’s special gifts or attainments. Sometimes the best friends of foreign missions are convinced that an exigency in the home land may be so grave as not only to withhold a man from the foreign field, but even to j ustify recalling one to meet the emergency. Some of the most eminent preachers, educators, and administrative officers of the great missionary societies in En- gland and America were fitted for their peculiarly important tasks while in the foreign fields. Among these I might mention the names of Wil- liam Arthur, Dr. E. E. Jenkins, Dr. W. T. A. Barber, Owen Watkins, Canon Edmonds, Dr. Baldwin, and Bishop Wiley. But where a minis- ter is conscious of but one commission for the whole field, he dare not excuse himself from weighing every opening and his relation to it as if he were actually on the firing line. The truly 18 The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary wonderful work done by the Rev. Charles E. Bradt in connection with his parish, the First Presbyterian Church, of Wichita, Kans., shows the power of the real missionary spirit in a man whose great sorrow was that he could not join his college mates in the foreign field. Determining to make his charge a missionary Church, despite their discouragements due to what seemed a hopeless Church debt, he laid upon their con- sciences the duty of looking beyond their own lim- itations and of supporting a missionary in China as well as a pastor at home. With the very effort to accomplish that much came such strength that now, in seven years, his Church has four missionaries in the field and has paid off all its debts, has erected a normal school in China at a cost of some $2,500, and is supporting some twenty-five native preachers. Who dare say that such a man is not obeying the Great Commission wherever he is? He gives his Church the true world view that saves from selfishness. Christ has no uncalled servants, no noncom- missioned preachers. The consecrated preacher is ever a volunteer, “if God permit,” for “anywhere.” Such men are not like the twelve hundred men who volunteered in response to Stanley’s call for The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary 19 men in Equatorial Africa, drawn by love of ad- venture, or the thousand whose names are on the list of applicants for position under the British Government in India, drawn by love of stipend and pension. The preacher is a missionary at home and the missionary is a preacher abroad, both under one commission. Let the preacher at home try his hand and _ most tactful efforts on some narrow-minded Jew or some cast- away, some crabbed son of Ishmael full of prej- udice or hate, ever seeking opportunity to bring back these lost sheep, and he will understand bet- ter the work of his brother-laborers in the foreign field. The question of personal duty being settled in the light of any positive hindrances which may forbid others, the missionary entering joyfully on his work must see to it that he has positive quali- fications. Surely God calls no man to preach his gospel who is not willing to qualify himself for that work, whether at home or in foreign lands. There are six all-important positive qualifica- tions: I. Such personal experience as enables the mis- sionary to set his seal to the truth of the Chris- tian religion. God must still reveal his Son in us 20 The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary if we preach him among the Gentiles. The mis- sionary must know whom he believes, and be per- suaded that he is able to keep what he has com- mitted unto him against that day. He must em- body the very truth that he preaches, so that peo- ple shall be reminded of Jesus when they see his messenger. His life must not be shaped by “the law of the jungle’’—personal pique and resent- ment, “an eye for an eye.” He must be “slow to anger.” He must teach and practice “the gospel of the second mile.” The natives are quick to see whether the missionary has heeded the Lord’s question: “What do ye more than others?” One burst of anger may brand a man with such a name as “Mr. Angry Face,” which ended the career of a missionary; while another one was ever called “The Jesus Man,” because his life preached as well as his lips. Missionaries must be the Lord’s witnesses, not alone of the truth as it is in Jesus, but of the life as it was lived by Jesus. The missionary can excel a Hindoo fakir, a Buddhist priest, or a Mohammedan mullah only in one thing, and that is in having the spirit of Christ. The others can excel him in asceticism, in indifference to physical comforts, and in religious zeal, the zeal of error, but not in the knowledge of The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary 21 the truth of Jesus and the resurrection, or in the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him. They must overcome, who are the sent of God, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of his testimony. No mere love of foreign travel, no spirit of adventure such as takes volunteers to the army in Manila, but a deep experience of the things of God and the consciousness of having a message that is the power of God unto salvation can justify a man in going to the foreign field, or sustain him while there. So frightful are the demands upon a man’s faith and hope and courage and love that he needs to be able to draw daily upon One who can abundantly supply all his want, or he will become bankrupt. 2. Rare common sense. I do not say common sense simply, which is the most uncommon thing, but rare common sense, a notable balance of the powers, that symmetry and self-control or mod- eration that the apostles sought and taught. The late Governor Brown, of Georgia, used to say: “Tf the Lord has left judgment out of a man, there is no way of ever getting it in.’ The min- istry, and above all the mission field, is no place for cranks. It takes more intelligence and grace 22 The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary than the heathen possess to stand a fool. Now and then one gets to the field, such as the mission- ary who wrote home that he would have a very good time but for the natives that kept coming to see him, and added: “But I have got me a good bulldog now, and do not expect to have any more trouble.” The opinionated missionary, the man of cranky views of the Bible or of Chris- tian experience, the man who is always wanting to call on the foreign consuls for gunboats or to overthrow the dynasty, should be recalled without delay. His unwisdom is chronic. You may pound such a man in a mortar with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. There is not enough humor in his make-up to see his own folly. Such men are more the devil’s emis- saries than the Lord’s missionaries. They are tares among the wheat, but such tares as cannot even be allowed to grow with the wheat unto the harvest. ' The missionary needs to pray daily for “the grace of addition,” so that by giving all diligence he may add or supply in his faith courage; and in his courage knowledge; and in his knowledge moderation ; and in his moderation patience; and in his patience godliness; and in his godliness The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary 23 love of the brethren; and in his love of the breth- ren love of everybody. Missionaries need “gump- tion” as much as they need “grace and grit.” If they have it not, let them sell all they have and buy this pearl of great price. Let their daily prayer be that of Solomon for “the grace of com- mon sense,” and then all things else shall be added unto them—length of days in the mission field, success in winning the confidence and respect of the natives, and finally their very souls. Was it not this grace that our Lord commended when he said: “Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves?” Some men look to the dove for wisdom, if not to the serpent for harmless methods of use- fulness. Verily they have their reward. It is a far cry to the time when “the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.” Until that day these children of nature need protection against themselves as much as against snakes. 3. Care of health. This is too sacred and too important a matter to treat as if neglect of health were due to lack of common sense. Sometimes when a missionary denounces or disparages doc- tors and refuses medicines, as if the Lord were pledged to care for his servant without means 24 The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary who lacked sense to make the right use of means, it may be a symptom of failing mind as well as of body, or it may be simply a species of hopeless crankiness which disqualifies for usefulness. But there are devout and otherwise sensible mission- aries who have too little regard for the religion of the body. Paul was not of that number, since the “beloved physician,” Luke, was his constant companion; and under his wise advice a feeble constitution was enabled to fight the good fight despite perils by land and sea and days and nights in the deep that would have quickly ended his career who lived to be Paul the Aged, and so gave the Church in all ages the benefit of his ripened wisdom. Paul believed not only in the purity of the body, but that it be presented “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service.”” A study of one’s own constitution, proper hygiene, and safeguarding against climatic conditions are the part of both prudence and religion. “Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and spirit, which are his.” 4. Ability to work with others. “Be ye like- minded” was a frequent exhortation of St. Paul. Learn how to work with others. “Ye know not The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary 25 what manner of spirit ye are of,” said the Master even to James and John, who were afterwards, when they had more of the Spirit of Christ, to be called Sons of Thunder. It is a favorite delight of the devil, if he cannot keep good men from going to the mission field, to set by the ears after they are there. A quarrelsome missionary, one without sufficient wisdom to impress others with his views, and who takes it out in “nagging,” mis- takes his calling. The other day the American Board, after fully considering just such a case, en- tered this minute: “While not doubting the piety of A. B., we find after due trial that he cannot work with other people; therefore we order his return home.” A man who is a misfit in one field may sometimes succeed in another, but it is a grave risk to take. The unfortunate missionary who said that he never saw a Chinaman that he did not feel like kicking him unconsciously revealed the fact that he was a born “kicker,” unsuited to any field, abroad or at home. “Be not strikers.” Paul and Barnabas knew how to agree to differ, Their high regard for each other made differences in view so painful that temporary separation was wisest. Probably each was right. They could work well enough with each other, but Paul could 26 The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary not exercise toward John Mark that hopeful pa- tience shown him by his kinsman until the gristle had turned into bone. Then he wrote: “Bring Mark with you, for he is profitable unto me for the ministry.’ The gravest differences which arise in the mission field are differences of opin- ion about men rather than measures. 5. Fidelity. This is the crowning grace, and the only one that cannot be counterfeited. Men can counterfeit faith, courage, hope, love; but fidelity unto death cannot be counterfeited, and fidelity receives the crown of life. Staying quali- ties are absolutely essential in getting the right and full equipment for the field and for laboring efficiently in it. “Patience and flannel” were once said to be the two greatest requisites of a mission- ary. Mastery of one’s self means mastery of one’s inclination to neglect his health or studies or diff- culties, and the settling down into “respectable inefficiency.” As only the well-furnished man should be sent as a missionary, so only the man who has added to his equipment by the most painstaking study of the language, the people, their modes of thought can become a successful fisher of men. Happy the missionary who has been a soul winner before he left home, and who The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary 27 has the precious memory of his “own sons in the gospel” wherever he labors. If a man does not flame with zeal for souls in America, he will not flame in Asia or Africa, where souls seem so un- lovely. Happy that missionary whose love of men enables him to say in whatever field: “If I have not love of the Arabs or the Chinese or who- ever they be among whom my lot is cast, it profit- eth me nothing.” It is love alone that never fail- eth, is not provoked, endureth all things, hopeth all things. ‘‘Lord, increase our love no less than our faith.” So much of the success of the missionary is due to personal work, like the Master’s with Nico- demus and with the woman at the well, that the strength of the missionary may all go in that way unless he constantly sees to it that he is a “nour- ished” minister. How he must feed upon the Word of God and bring forth things new and old for his own nourishment and the profiting of those who hear him! Commonplaces seem neces- sary in many stages of missionary work, but he who is content with commonplaces does not make full proof of his ministry. The test of a man’s piety may be how faithfully he studies to feed the flock of Christ. ‘Take heed to thyself and the 28 The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary doctrine, that thou mayest both save thyself and them that hear thee,’ was written to a missionary by one. The unchanging Oriental mind enables the faithful missionary to get an insight into the history of doctrine denied the student at home, and may make him an interpreter of the great doctrines of the cross in their development, at whose feet his brethren may delight to sit. Was there ever such companionship with Christ and with Paul as is possible to those who labor under like conditions, preaching by parable and story, by recognition of the best that is in an effete faith, in the endeavor to show a more excellent way? Above all things, fidelity in the use of one’s time is a test of religious character, whether at home or abroad. The missionary assigns his own tasks and divides his own time. What value does he put upon it? Emerson spoke wisely when he said: “Of what use is immortality to a man who does not know how to use a half hour?’ The missionary should redeem the time during all his waking hours; then his sleep shall be sweet. No- where as in the mission field is the promise so sweet : “So he giveth his beloved sleep.” Sleep is part of the wages of the worker, as when our Lord slept in the boat in the midst of the storm. The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary 29 6. The enduement of the Holy Spirit. The whole history of the apostolic Church and of Christianity is summed up in one sentence when our Lord said: ‘““Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” The whole missionary move- ment is the movement through men and upon men by the Holy Spirit, who alone can make men brave enough and tender enough to face men, and to bear with them for the sake of that God who is no respecter of persons. The Holy Spirit alone can guide into all truth. More willing is your Heavenly Father to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him than are earthly Beate to give even bread to their children. When I think of Carey and Martyn, of Duff and Livingstone, and other master missionaries whose fidelity quickened and inspired the whole Church, I crave for myself and for my fellow- workers everywhere an eldest son’s part, a “dou- ble portion of the Spirit” that rested upon them. An answering voice speaks out of the super- natural : “If thou art with me when I am taken up, it shall be given unto thee.” God of our fathers, 30 The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary help us to stand in the company of such men as they are, clothed with their ascension robes, and take up the mantle which, in storm and sunshine, amid perils of robbers and of false countrymen, and in conflicts with wild beasts and more savage men, has sheltered brave hearts ever ready for the appearing of their Lord. The Missionary Training School Series FOR 1905. This entire series of twelve booklets contains about 360 pages of choice missionary literature and covers a wide range of subjects. Surely every home in the Church ought to have a complete set. Reader, will you not help the school to send these messages of the Master into every home in our connection? ‘These are the subjects: 1. John Wesley as a Philanthropist and the Social Mission of Methodism. By Prof. Thomas Carter. 2. Paul asa Missionary. By Dr. O. E. Brown. 3. Jesus asa Missionary. By Dr. O. E. Brown. 4. The Call and Qualifications of a Missionary. By Bishop E. R. Hendrix. 5. Problems of the Downtown Church. By Dr. W. F. McMurry. / 6. The Church and the Boy. By Dr. W. W. Pinson. 7. Religious Work among Miners. By Rev. J. W. Perry. 8. Religious Work for Our Factory People. By Rev. E. O. Watson. 9g. Problems of the Hour. By Dr. W. R. Lambuth. 10. Agencies Working for the Kingdom. By Dr. John F. Goucher, of the Baltimore Woman’s College. 11. The Need of Paganism for Christ. By Dr. John F, Goucher. 12. Money and Missions. By Dr. F. S. Parker. PRICE LIST. Single copy, mailed to any address, Io cents. 12 copies, mailed to the same address, 60 cents. 25 copies, mailed to the same address, $1. The entire series of twelve, mailed to the same address as they are issued from the press, 60 cents. All orders should be sent to Walter R. Lambuth, 346 Public Square, Nashville, Tenn. (31) Some of the Best Books on Foreign Missions. “The Pastor and Modern Missions,” by John R. Mott, $1; “ Life and Letters of Laura Askew Haygood,” by Dr. and Mrs. O. E. Brown, $1.50; “Missions and Modern History,” two volumes, by Robert E. Speer, $4; “Christianity and the Progress of Man,” Mackenzie, $1.25; ‘The Religions of the World and Christianity,” Grant, 4o cents; “ New Forces in Old China,” Arthur J. Brown, $1.50; ‘“China’s Book of Martyrs,” Miss Miner, $1.50; “ Life of Horace Tracy Pitkin,” Robert E. Speer, $1.25; “A Chinese Scholar,” Mrs. Howard Taylor, $1. These books can be secured from Smith & Lamar, Agents, Nashville, Tenn, (32)