Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 March 1912 — The Criticism of Missions [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Criticism of Missions

By Rev. Edward A. Marshall,

Director of Maoooary Course, iviooay DiDie institute, vmcago

It 1* natural to expect that missionary werk win be criticised when ■' one considers the great variety of people Interested and the many different /view* promulgated. There are three or four hundred societies belonging to scores of denominations now working in the field. They have over 20,000 missionaries in active

service and are spending more than 130,000,000 annually on the work. It would be unfair to say that criticism must be prohibited and that no critical questions would be answered. The critic could justly reply that since he was unable to learn how his money was being spent, he would cease to contribute. On the other hand the critic must be Jalr to the society and worker who naturally expect him to know what he is talking about before he speaks. Of course there are different kind* of criticism just as there are different kinds of people. One speaks with a view to helpfulness, another criticises because he desires to find reasons to excuse himself from responsibility while a third may talk against the work because he is not content to sanction the use of any ecclesiastical harness or work in harmony with hi* fellows on any task. . However the person who wishes to be accorded a hearing on missionary work (or any other work) should comply with certain rules, which. If observed. will make him an aid to the building up of that work in some substantial, beneficial way. I. The critic must be a Christian. A man out of Christ looks at the subject from the wrong viewpoint. He naturally thinks It unnecessary to send the gospel to the heathen if he has refused it himself. Neither can be be expected to support a teaching he does not himself believe. 11. The critic must be a soul winner. That is, he must have some adequate realization of the value of a lost soul and must have tried to bring’ souls to Christ. 111. The critic must be an honest student of missionary work. The great task of mission* cannot be learned by Intuition. It involve* matters touching the personal life and liberties of thousands and the purses of millions. It deals with the deepest principles of organization and requires a broad knowledge of the working value of policies and methods. Therefore the person who would dictate standards for the adoption of missionaries must know whereof he speaks. IV. The critic should have visited the mission fields or talked freely with missionaries. Theory Is one thing and practice Is quite another, especially when the theory is created In America, but has to be applied in Africa. Parents find that the course of training applied to one child Is sometimes worthless when applied to another, even though the children be in the same family. Then again, If a person 1* capable of offering criticism he must see that it is cautiously and wisely given, because: I. It Is unwise to criticise what God has especially commanded. The person who criticises the work of missions must remember that he is dealing with the triune God. Every person of the Godhead is vitally interested, and is also a personal. participant in the work of saving the heathen. Therefore the critic stands on perilous ground before his Creator. 11. There are 20,000 missionaries who have believed enough in missions to be out on the field today. The critic who remains at home in * well, feathered nest must realize that it f* no small thing to put hl* Inexperienced judgment up against the actual labors of consecrated thousands whose universal testimony Is that “mlsaions pay." . in. The transformation of the heathen, which ha* taken place during the past 100 years, overwhelmingly answers aU those who would say* that the work is not worth while. Any-, one who has watched the evolution of tribes and nation* by the process of divine regeneration; who ha* seen annihilating customs become only* Items tor the historian, and the number of printed language* leap from, fifty to more than five hundred, through missionary toll, ha* surely felt his thoughtless criticisms grow cold ou Ns Bps. These things make a wise man careful In Ms judgment for he realise*’ that hl* influence may mean the weal or woe of some of his fellowmen, at home and abroad. The man whoi 1* not both wise and carefill in hl*, •peecn cannot oi twnw eAtwcv who are in the thick of the fight to leave their post* and come back to where he reclines comfortably in the barrack* in order to answer his idl* words. K