Indian missionary manual

Front matter

Glass Book^

INDIAN

MISSIONARY MANUAL.

Preface

Labour in India," put a young Missionary in possession of a great amount of valuable information. Still, it is highly desirable that experienced Missionaries should bring together, in a somewhat different form, hints for young labourers entering upon the work. It is now upwards of thirty years since Hough's * Missionary Vade Mecum " was published. It is not enough that one Missionary should give his opinions. Several should write, that questions may be viewed from different stand-points.

It will be seen that the following work consists largely of extracts. This will be far more satisfactory to those for w T hom the compilation is designed. In a popular commentary on the Holy Scriptures, the author simply gives his own exposition. In a work for critical purposes, a student wishes to get the opinions of the best scholars in their own words. Somewhat in like manner, the compiler has endeavoured to show the views entertained on many important questions connected with Missions by the most experienced labourers. Any course recommended will come with much greater authority from one who can testify to the results.

The object is not to show to Christian friends in England the progress which has been made, and to encourage them in the prosecution of the great enterprise. The book is intended solely for Missionaries and members of Missionary Committees. The main design is to point out whatever appears defective in modes of working and to suggest improvements. It is extremely difficult to write of such matters without giving offence. The compiler has endeavoured, to some extent, to guard against it by making general statements, Baxter says, " I have excepted in our confessions those who are not guilty, and therefore hope that I have injured none."* Occasionally it is asserted, that "some Missionaries" act reprehensibly in such and such a way. Of course this does not apply to the majority. Every Missionary and his friends will know whether * Preface to u Reformed Pastor."

PREFACE.

v or not he is to be blamed in the matter. It is evident that it would be quite impossible to give names. The compiler may use the words of Dubois : " Advice which may not apply in one quarter may be most beneficial in another. Moreover, I venture to affirm that I have not censured a single abuse without knowing most positively that that abuse exists. It is always because I have met and lamented it more than once that I allow myself to draw attention to it." He may also add, " I do remember my faults this day." Some of the cautions are the result of dearly-bought personal experience.

Among Missionaries the compiler numbers some of his dearest earthly friends ; many of his happiest hours have been spent in their company. He trusts that all who know him intimately will give him credit for at least good intentions. " Faithful are the wounds of a friend."

The compiler's opinions of Missionaries in general may best be expressed in the words of Dr. G. Smith, editor of the " Friend of India :" —

" Among the more than five hundred European and American Missionaries in India, there are doubtless some who have made a mistake in selecting their field of labour abroad, and there may be a few who have chosen what may be called Missionaryism as a mere profession. . . . But every Christian layman in India who personally studies the character and the work of the Missionaries, will unite with me in declaring that in no Church, and in no profession, is it possible to find so large a band of devoted, intelligent, and self-denying men — many of whom have consecrated to the regeneration of India the most scholarly attainments, literary gifts, and even considerable private fortunes — as the five hundred Missionaries in India."*

Still, considering the rapid progress which is being made in every department of science and art, it would be absurd to suppose that Indian Missions, so comparatively recent in their origin, should not be susceptible of great improvements. Every intelligent labourer

* Address at Edinburgh.

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VI

PKEFACE.

by careful observation and experiment, may aid in bringing about important reforms. There are still numerous questions to be solved. The Missionary Lectureships now established in connection with some theological colleges will, doubtless, in addition to other important results, lead to the publication of valuable treatises on the economy of Missions.

The following work was first printed at Madras in 1864. Before revising it for a second edition, besides consulting Missionaries in India, he sought the aid of a few experienced friends at home. The Eev. Dr. Somerville, late Foreign Mission Secretary of the United Presbyterian Church, kindly read over carefully the whole volume, and made several notes; the Eev. C. (J. Fenn, one of the secretaries of the Church Missionary Society, favoured the compiler with some suggestions. The Eev. Dr. J. S. Wardlaw kindly lent the notes of x the Lectures which he delivered to the students preparing for foreign labour in connection with the London Missionary Society. They have yielded several valuable extracts. To all who have aided him, the compiler would return his warmest acknowledgments.

The late Bishop Wilson, when preaching before the Church Missionary Society in 1846, offered the following prayer for the enlargement of Christ's kingdom, with which this Preface may fitly conclude : —

<• Divine Kedeemer, and Lord of all, who, after shedding Thy most precious blood, art, as a 'lamb that was slain, pleading for a lost world, and waiting for ' all things to be put under Thy feet,' look down in pity upon us ; bedew our very souls with Thy blood ; let this blood raise us up ministers, missionaries, confessors, martyrs. 1 Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, Thou most mighty, and in Thy majesty ride prosperously.' Let Thy ' name endure for ever/ let 6 Thy name be continued as long as the sun ; let men be blessed in Thee, and let all nations call Thee blessed. Yea, blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things ; and blessed be Thy glorious name for ever; and let the whole earth be filled with Thy glory. Amen, Amen.' "

Contents

PAGE

I. Introduction. — First Impressions ..... 1

Interest and Importance of the Field, 1. First Impressions, 3. Cautions, 5.

Index

INDIAN MISSIONARY MANUAL.

I. INTRODUCTION.— FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

Interest and Importance of the Field. — The Indian Missionary may well cherish feelings of thankfulness and solemn responsibility. His lot has been cast in a land fitted to call forth all his energies in the noblest of causes. The numerous objects of inquiry around him are thus described by Dr. Duff : —

" Other lands have their own specific points of interest and attraction — individually or severally equalling, or even surpassing, any separate object of interest connected with India ; — but, out of Christendom, it is believed that, at this moment, no other realm can present such a varied assemblage and rare combination of objects and qualities fitted to attract and arrest the eye of civilized intelligence. The extent and magnificence of the empire which Britain has there reared, and the wealth and influence thence accruing to her, have necessarily fixed on India the anxious gaze of the most enlightened statesmen of the Old and New Worlds. If the events of civil and military history be worthy objects of entertainment or pursuit, — where shall we find them more abundantly furnished, than in the actions of that amazing series of conquerors that has passed over the stage of India, from the days of Alexander down to the present hour ? If poetry and romance and chivalry, — are there not ample stores of poetic effusion and romantic legend in the Mahabharat and Ramayan — the great epics of India — that might not be dis- | claimed as unworthy by any of the older nations of Europe ? and are the records of any state more crowded with the

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