There are, of course, some who will find that they have mistaken their vocation and that missionary work does not suit them; or, rather, that they are not adapted to it. Such people should make no delay in returning home and in seeking a more congenial life work.
3. The Intellectual Ability and Educational Training of the Missionary.
Whatever may have been the case in the past, the day certainly has come when India demands only men and women of wide intelligence and thorough training as missionaries. Whether we regard it as a land of profound philosophy, and of a marvellously organized religion; or whether we consider the intellectual power of many of the natives of that land, the missionary must be amply prepared, through educational and intellectual equipment, to meet them. One of the saddest sights seen in India is a missionary who has absolutely no interest in the religious philosophy of the land, and who is not able to appreciate the mutual relations of that faith and his own and who is unequal to the task of discussing intelligently with, and of convincing in, matters of faith, the educated natives of the country. Such a man apparently did not know that he would meet in that land many university graduates who are still believers in, and defenders of, their ancestral faith. So he finds himself unable to stand before such men and to give reason for the faith that is in him so as to satisfy their earnest, intelligent inquiries, or to quiet their keen opposition.
It should also be remembered that, in addition to this growing host of natives of university training and culture, there is a considerable number of Europeans in government service and in other departments. They come into constant touch with the missionary, and gauge his culture and capacity, and are sure to judge of the missionary work according to their estimate of his training and qualification.
In such a land, and facing such conditions, and in the presence of such people, the missionary should be a man of thorough training and culture, and should have a mind which has ample command of the treasures of knowledge which it has acquired. He should also be able to find interest in various branches of learning. As I said above, he should, in some respects, be a man of special training with definite and high qualifications for the special department upon which he has entered; but he should also be not narrow, but of broad sympathies and of a growing interest in the general realm of culture. He should continue to cultivate his student tastes, and should grow constantly in ability and aptitude to grapple with the mighty problems of the land. He should be able not only to understand the many aspects of Hinduism and of Buddhism, which has entered so largely into the Hindu faith, but he must also know considerable about Mohammedanism, since it is held by one-fifth of the population of that land.