MISSIONARIES COMPARE NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 775, 26 March 1910, Page 9

MISSIONARIES COMPARE NOTES.

.VEXED QUESTIONS -BROACHED. J . That interesting reunion, tho; Naj tioual Free Church Council's annual re- ' ception to missionaries on furlough, ' took place recently in London.. A large ] number of ladies and gentlemen, repre- '; senting most of the Free' Church missionary societies and all the principal 1 fields, accepted the council's invitatioii. Dr. Gibson, in welcoming the fortunate workers in "the high places;;;'of the \ field," referred to the contrast between ' the live condition of the foreign work j ' and .the slackness and stagnation at 1 homo. He warmly commended the work ' of the Laymen's Missionary Movement ' in America. 1 Sir J. Compton-Rickett, M.P., made ! a very outspoken, and suggestive little J speech, in which he tojched on somo difficult and debatable problems. The ' Churches at home, he said, expected: too ' much sentiment from missionaries visit-. 1 ing them. . Missionaries were expected 1 to come before them in a halo of-en--1 thusiasm, always living on' a high ' spiritual plane. The truth was that missionaries had to live a common daily life like the rest of us, and it would ; bo a good thing for missions if .our mis- >. sionary meetings were held in cold blood, without any false .sentiment. A second point was that they wore.exacting too rigid' a standard of Christian morals from the converts that tho missionaries made. Sir Joseph suggested that the various societies should' come to a mutual agreement, for instance, as to whether thoy should sanction polygamy among native church members. At present a native Christian found that his polygamy was sanctioned in ono villago and regarded as a sin in another. Sir Joseph .strongly objected to "manufacture now sins." Sir Joseph's suggestion that an insistence on monogamy was often harmful evoked some emphatic assent from his hearers, —similar approval being given to tho opposito view when set forth by a later speaker. Sir Joseph's third suggestion was that they were "too fond of statistics." The success of missions was not to ho judged by conversions alone, but by tho effect on the moral standard of Jtatiyo., rac.es,

Gipsy Smith, who described himselfi as the Free Council's "home and for-! eigu ; missionary,'' gave, .ono:.of hi* stimulating addresses on tho onenesß of all ..Christian "work—its" one object being .the saving of souls. Let them devote themselves to this work, and other, questions—polygamy -among them —would settle themselves. /"With tha. now heart would come the < new li&J Brief speeches by missionaries folloroefl. Rev. E. H. Bestall (Burma) _,gave a glowing account of the Methodist work among tho outcast hypers. He reminded Western admirers of Buddhism that Buddhism had never done one day's work for these wretched creatures iii all its history. Rev. H. PJnflips (Congo) said ho had come home in that same ship with the now King of thej Belgians, and ho had reason to tlimki that he was a kind-hearted, man, who would be friendly to Congo) reform. On the question of.polygainjj Mr. Phillips.said that ho had lived toj regret that he had ever admitted! polygamists into the Church. The Chris-j tian Gospel was a gospel.of. monogamyj and the native would so interpret it himself. ... • • . .. .' i