St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-02-15

rome, lLdly.-E1STG III the CSul6F VI
the worlds religious interest, home.
ward bound, look back over nearly
years investigation of Christian
missions in the orient for a final re.
view and summary. What is the con
clusion of the whole matter? Are for.
eign missions worth while?
The answer must be in the affirma.
tive. Considered only from the stand
point of humanitarian and philan-
t1ropic service, the entire missionary
enterprise justifies its existence. Add
t0 these great works of healing, edu-
cation and care for the orphaned and
the needy, the beneficial influence
which has been exerted upon the
characters of thousands of native con-
Verts, as well as the more general,
though none the less unmistakable
influence welded in behalf of civiliza-
ton, and it will be seen that the mis-
sionary agencies which the churches
OF Christendom maintain at an annual
expenditure of many, millions of dol
lars is one of the tremendous TWEEN
tieth century forces making for the
worlds progress.
Without simplifying this point,
which has surely been made plain in
the preceding articles, let me suggest
some general considerations and critf-
clsms which appear to be important
enough to deserve the attention of the
general public, as well as of that
large constituency especially interest
ed In missions.
Where Churches Should Get Touether.
| know of no other undertaking any.
where at all approaching this one in
magnitude which is managed in such
helter-skelter, disorganized fashion,
or on such an unbusinesslike basis. |
do not here allude to the administra-
ton OF the individual boards, but to
the propaganda as a whole Senti-
ment, mood and emotion, rather than
tested principle and careful judgment,
seem to be the foundation of most
missionary activity; if a man or
body can display especial efficiency in
stirring the feelings of the home con-
stituency he or 1t can be sure of
plenty Of funds and free field to GO
where 1t will and do what it pleases
In the mission world. There is at pres
emit no sufficient method of checking
up the work of foreign missions.
This sort of thing, and worse mis-
takes are in goodapart due to the
help-yourself fashion in which the de-
nominations work. Only in the more
recent fields has there been an appor-
tionment of territory among the
churches, although everywhere the
need for this is SO urgent that the de-
nominations are now recognizing and
yielding to it. Plainly, there is no suf-
ficient reason why the mission work
ct the Protestant churches in heather
lands should not be done as one close
Incorporating body The avowed aim
Is the conversion of the people, and
not the perpetuation and extension of
UNCONVENTIONAL names, creeds and au-
thority upon the mission field. The
present arrangement is expensive, di-
visfve and hindrance to the end
sought. What sense or reason is there,
for instance, in establishing northern
and southern Presbyterian churches
in China, where the very existence of
America is nebulous matter to most
of the people and the fact of the civil
war is unknown to 999 persons out of
every thousand? Left to themselves,
the native Christians in the field I
have visited would not be long in
forming one Christian church.
BusinessIike Methods Needed.
Pending the time of actual union,
every possible form of cooperation
should be adopted. The commercial
sagacity of the method which keeps
half dozen expensive theologically-
trained business agents in the same
port city to do the purely secular
work for separate boards which could |
all be done by one unordained bust |
ness man does not appeal to the way
farer. Neither does the zeal for |
planting new work in these outposts |
(often in competition with native
churches) where expenses are high |
est, difficulties greatest and results
feWest, when there are unlimited IA |
yorable openings in the untouched in
terror. Most port cities, be it re-
marked, need subtraction rather |
than an addition of missionaries.
A closer and more vigorous super
vision of missions on the part of SEN
sible, courageous men of authority,
will result in the wedding out of The |
occasional unfit missionary and in
remedying tactical plumbers in the To- /
cation of stations and in the character
of the work
Two other important services this
businesslike supervision would accom-
plish: 1t would insure the sending of
sane, well-balanced ard accurate re-
ports to the homeland, and it would
deal vigorously with the criticisms
which are so common on the other
side of the globe that they constitute
a serious barrier to missionary sue
cess. Criticisms which are even part
~ true should be frankly admitted,
and the evils remedied; those which
are not true should be boldly chal-
lenged and silenced.
The position can never be main
tanned that missionaries are impecca-
BILE; and to answer careful, definite
as some which have ap-
peared in this correspondence have
been answered, ny the sweeping state
ment that it is morally impossible
for a missionary to do wrong, is sim
ply to put missionary defense beyond
n. oIn xNN hwy l