lighten the Gentiles; may He work in thee His spiritual miracles. May you feel His presence in the lonely wilderness, on the mountain-top, on the troubled sea. May Christ be ever with thee to give thee utterance, to open thy mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.

"May you sorrow with Him in His agony and be crucified with Him in His death, be buried with Him in His grave, rise with Him to newness of life and ascend with Him in heart in the same place whither He has gone before, and feel that He ever liveth to make intercession for thee, 'that thy faith fail not.''

I

XI

THE MISSIONARY AND THE BOARD

Na long tour of Asia, the author made special inquiries of

a large number of missionaries of various denominations

regarding their relation to their respective boards. He is happy to report that the alienation, which is sometimes said to exist, is confined to a very few missionaries whose leadership is expressly disavowed by their associates. There are, indeed, occasional differences of opinion as to policy and the wisdom of particular actions; but of resentment or distrust there is remarkably little. The missionaries frequently referred to the great improvement in this respect in recent years. "A generation ago," they said, "the missionary was often disposed to look upon the board as his natural enemy; but to-day he regards it as his personal friend."

Some missionaries, who would be first to repudiate the charge of personal feeling, raised the question whether the boards sufficiently consulted the missionaries before making decisions. Inquiries, however, developed the fact that the missionaries did not realize what an effort the boards are already making to ascertain their views. The secretaries give much of their time to correspondence with individual missionaries and to conferences with missionaries or missionary bishops who are home on furlough. Secretaries covet such interviews, and whenever there is advance notice so that the necessary arrangements can be made, a committee of the board meets the representative from the field. In this way, the missionary has free opportunity to set forth his views, while if his visit occurs when the board is in session, he may be introduced to that body. Besides these regular methods, there are special ones.

For

example, during the Boxer outbreak in China, one secretary wrote to the forty-five China missionaries of his board, who were then on furlough, asking their counsel as to the policy that should be pursued, and in addition invited eight of them to come to New York at the expense of the board for a personal conference. Several of the boards send a secretary or a deputation to visit the field at intervals of a few years, for the express purpose of becoming more fully informed regarding mission. work, while the bishops of the Methodist Church make regular visitations of foreign conferences. In these ways, many secretaries and not a few board members have personally visited the foreign field and by their studies on the ground, as well as by their wide experience in handling mission problems of an administrative character, have become experts.

Thus it will be seen that the boards have special facilities for ascertaining the judgment of the missionaries. Indeed, it not infrequently happens that the secretary has a more accurate knowledge of the real sentiment of a mission than many of the missionaries themselves, since he is the only one who has direct and confidential correspondence with every member of the mission. It is the policy of the boards to attach much weight to the judgment of the missionaries and to give them all the liberty of action consistent with the prudent administration of the trust which the Church has committed to the board. The presumption is always in favour of the requests of the devoted and trusted workers on the field. With the exception of items that involve a mistaken policy, the custom is to approve their estimates, subject only to such a cut as their excess over the board's estimated income renders absolutely necessary, leaving each mission to distribute the cut for itself. This gives to the missions considerable freedom in determining how funds can be expended to the best advantage.

Missionaries, however, do not always appreciate the difficulties that beset the effort to ascertain their views. They represent about as many different types of character and judg

ment as an equal number of Christian workers in the United States. Every one knows how rare unanimity is in a General Conference or Assembly. If the proposed action is one in which there is any interest at all, there are certain to be divergent opinions. This difficulty, that is experienced when several hundred ministers and laymen in the home Church meet, is enormously intensified when a question is submitted to an equal number of Christian workers scattered all over the world. A proposal from the board reaches two or three families in some remote station. They have probably given little or no previous thought to the matter. They do not know the views of missionaries in other lands, nor do they have the benefit of opinions expressed in a debate. The letter of the secretary explains as far as possible, but it cannot meet every point that arises in the mind of a reader. The result is that the missionaries cast a vote which they might not have cast if they could have profited by the views of their associates in other countries. If the matter is held for mission meeting, a long delay is usually involved, for the mission meets only once a year. Moreover, it is comparatively seldom that such opinions are expressed by yeas or nays. Each mission is very apt to suggest some amendment, so that the returns to the board are a chaos of conflicting views. One of the curiosities of the Presbyterian Board's office is the vast pile of manuscripts which resulted from that Board's effort to obtain the views of its missionaries regarding a new manual. It would puzzle any one to get a concensus of opinion out of it on many important topics. A medical missionary once wrote to the author, proposing certain changes in the manual rule affecting medical missionaries. We sent a copy of his letter with a request for an opinion to every medical missionary connected with our board, so that we might formulate a policy that would represent a general judgment. Three years later, only about half the medical missionaries had been heard from. Other illustrations could easily be given. A large number of men and women scattered over Asia, Africa, South America

and Oceanica, who seldom see one another and who have no means of intercommunication except through the board, cannot possibly be made the unit of missionary administration.

A further consideration was suggested by some missionaries themselves. They protested against the policy of one board in consulting missionaries as much as it does, declaring that some matters could not be discussed in a mission meeting without embarrassment and fear of personal offense and that the mission vote was apt to represent the sentiment of those who were personally involved rather than that of the mission as a whole. One missionary frankly said: "We have difficulty enough to keep harmony on the mission field without the board throwing firebrands into our meetings. What is the board for if it cannot decide such questions? Your knowledge of the missionaries and your acquaintance with missionary problems are such that you ought to know what should be done. Do it and announce the result to us, and do not trouble us by unloading your responsibilities on our shoulders which are overloaded as it is." Another experienced missionary writes:

"In the nature of the case, perhaps there is no circle in the world, except the family circle, in which its members need to guard one another's susceptibilities so carefully, as the foreign missionary circle. The fewness, the intimacy, the parity, the isolation, the conspicuousness, the indispensable harmony, all conspire to make this so. It follows that delicate subjects affecting personal and local interests are nowhere in the world so difficult to handle, as in the mission circle. And it is often necessary, in the interest of internal harmony, to neglect or postpone important measures. Hence, in dealing with such questions, the board must often need to take the initiative, and to follow it up if necessary with no little pressure, to counteract the personal forces at work, and get beyond the compromises into which these are apt to lead, and into the region of the independent and impartial judgment of the mission as a whole." It should be borne in mind, too, that the decision of many