CHAPTER IV.

Suppose the Roman Catholic figures to be an estimate. Is it not plain that in dealing with considerable areas estimates may be useful though faulty? How little difference in the work to be done does an error in that estimate make? Knock off or add on 50,000 and is the work to be done seriously affected? It is true that in some calculations an error of that magnitude might mislead us somewhat, but hardly enough to vitiate our whole view of the situation, especially if we carefully check our conclusions by the results of other tables given later.

At the first glance these figures produce the impression that very little has been done. In the beginning, and that was many years ago, there were over 32 million non-Christians; there are over 32 million to-day. But let us look at proportions and see what a different impression is produced.

—————————————————————————————-Population. : Total : Total Non- : Proportion: Christians. : Christians. : of Christians to: : : Non-Christians.—————————————————————————————-32,571,000 : 534,238 : 32,036,762 : 1 to 60—————————————————————————————-

One Christian to every sixty non-Christians gives us a totally different impression. We begin to feel that if only the Christians awoke to their duty they could influence the whole population profoundly. That is precisely the effect produced upon the Christians by a missionary survey undertaken with them, and understood by them; they begin to see the immensity of the work to be done, they begin to see that it can be done.

There should properly then here be two tables parallel to the first two.Thus:—

——————————————————————————————————-| Number of | Number of | || Occupied | Unoccupied | Proportion of |RemarksArea. | Cities, Towns, | Cities, Towns, | Occupied to |and| Villages. | Villages. | Unoccupied. |Conclusions.———|————————|————————|———————-|——————| | | |______|________________|________________|_______________|____________

——————————————————————————————————— Total | Total | Total Non- | Proportion of | Remarks Population. | Christian | Christian | Christian to | and | Population. | Population. | Non-Christian. |Conclusions. ——————|——————-|——————-|————————|—————— | | | | ____________|_____________|_____________|________________|____________

Observe what light is thrown upon a district by the mere juxtaposition of those few facts. I think those two tables alone should suffice to prove that a survey which regarded only a very few factors might be of immense service, if those who used it kept clearly before them its partial character and did not allow themselves to treat it as complete.

But, unfortunately, these first facts which we have desired are, like other facts of importance, procured only with difficulty and toil. In order to fill up the preceding tables the missionary surveyor must be able to state what is the area and what the population in the station district. But some could not supply that information. Its acquisition might involve a journey of many months given up to careful examination and inquiry. It is no small demand to make. In many cases a reasoned estimate is indeed the only possible statement; but as we have already argued careful estimates are invaluable, and where a census does not exist they give us for the time something to work upon.

Where the physical survey can be undertaken it is most illuminating work, illuminating both to the missionaries and to their native helpers, who often gain an entirely new view of their work and its possibilities from such personal examination. Testimony to the value of this experience is growing daily in weight and volume.

This physical survey would naturally result in the production of a map of the area in which the cities, towns, and villages in the station district were marked with notes on their character from the missionary point of view. In this map all places where Christians resided, where there were Christian congregations, churches, preaching places, schools, hospitals, dispensaries, etc., would be marked. It would be a pictorial presentation of the facts so far as they were capable of expression in map form.

But whether in map form or in statistical form, the area and the population for which the mission is working must be expressed either by exact figures or by estimates if we are to trace progress.

If these tables were kept over a number of years, the missionaries on the spot and directors and inquirers at home would be able to see what progress was being made towards fulfilling the obligation implied by the definition of the station area or district, and what that obligation involved.

II. When we know the work to be done we turn to the consideration of the force available. This force consists of permanent and more or less temporary members. Some will in all human probability remain in the place till they die; they are of it, they belong to it; others will probably depart elsewhere; they are not of the place; they speak of home as far away; they are liable to removal; sickness which does not kill them takes them away; the call of friends or business carries them back to their own land; they are strangers all their days in the mission district. Nevertheless, they are generally the moving, active force; upon them progress seems to depend. It is strange, but it is true generally: the permanent is the passive element, the impermanent is the active. Here we simply state the fact to excuse or condemn the placing of the missionary force first in our tables. First it is to-day.

We need then a table of the foreign missionary force. In its form it will be a mere statement of proportions. The proportions are essential in order to make comparison between one area and another possible; and comparison is the sweet savour of survey. We cannot compare the work of three men labouring among an unstated population with the work of two other men working in an unstated population; the moment that the proportions are worked out the cases can be compared. But some men detest this purely quantitative comparison. They insist, and rightly, that there is no true equality in the comparison. One man differs from another man and his work differs from the work of the other man: over large areas it is often the work of one man among many which really saves the situation. It is quite true. In the last resort survey becomes survey of personalities. But in a survey of the kind which we propose, survey of personalities is impossible and most undesirable.

The survey proposed cannot deal with personalities, but that does not invalidate the importance of the information asked for. Such forms received from many different stations would certainly throw light on the serious question of reinforcement. It is of course obvious that reinforcements could not be allotted rightly on such slight evidence as the proportion of missionaries to the population of a district. The question is not whether reinforcements could be allotted on this factor alone; but whether they could be allotted rightly in ignorance of it. Taken in conjunction with the preceding and following tables, this table would reveal something that we may callneedin a purely quantitative expression, and comparative need should certainly influence the allotment of reinforcements. Though the statement of need in this table is indeed utterly insufficient by itself, it is nevertheless true that no statement of comparative need which ignored the proportions here set out would be satisfactory. This quantitative expression is not sufficient; but no statement is sufficient without it, and, as often, so here, it is the proportion rather than the actual figures which make comparison possible:—

——————————————————————————————————-| | Total |Proportion |Proportion | RemarksDistrict.|Popula- | Foreign | to | of Women | and| tion. |Missionaries.|Population.| to |Conclusions.| | | |Population.|————-|————|——————-|—————-|—————-|——————| | | | |——————————————————————————————————-

We turn now to the permanent Christian force in the district. We want to know what is the force. We ask, therefore, that the total Christian constituency may be accepted as the first expression of the native force. The progress of the Gospel is most seriously affected by the whole number of those who in any sense call themselves Christians. They are the force in the place which influences the heathen for or against it. It is of the utmost importance that they should be reckoned first, and treated first, as the force which above all others works slowly, quietly, imperceptibly, but mightily. The whole body of those who profess and call themselves Christians should be put in the very first place.

Then the communicants (or full members) are commonly the body to which all turn for voluntary zealous effort. The communicants are the strength of the Church. We compare them next with the work to be done. Then the paid workers. Then the voluntary unpaid workers, recognised as such.

The difficulty of calculating the unpaid voluntary workers is indeed very great. We know of no definition which would serve to give any uniformity to returns made by different missions. We recognise that different missions would make the returns on different bases. We earnestly desire a common definition, which all might accept. But under existing circumstances it seems impossible to find one. Nevertheless, without some statement of the number of voluntary workers, we are, as we shall see, in grave danger of misjudging the situation and wronging our missionaries and the native Christians. For the time then we suggest that it would be far better to accept the returns given to us by the missionaries on their own basis, asking them to append a note to the return explaining how they calculated their voluntary force. We should then have the following table:—

The Native Force.

(a) The Christian Constituency.

(b) The Communicants or Full Members.

(d) The Unpaid Workers.

Here again it is the proportions which are illuminating and enable comparisons of different areas to be made. The bare figures of the number of Christians and communicants and workers by themselves would tell us very little; only when we have them related to a common factor do we get any real light.

Let us now sum up our inquiry thus far.

+———————————————————————————-+——-+ Work to be Done: Non-Christian Population. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Untouched, Unoccupied Villages. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Foreign Force Compared with Work to be Done. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Native Force Compared with Work to be Done. | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Christian Constituency. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Communicants. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Paid Workers. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Unpaid Voluntary Workers. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+

If these tables were kept over a series of years, the progress of the force in relation to the work to be done would be most interestingly revealed.

But in estimating the Christian force in the district we need to know more than its number; we need to know so much of its character as statistical tables can show.

One Christian to every 129 heathen may mean much or little. It might mean that the day when the Christian force would be the controlling force in the area was close at hand. That would depend largely upon the capacity of the Christians, their education, their zeal. The tables which we now suggest are designed to reveal, so far as tables can reveal, the truth in these matters.

We begin then with the proportion of communicants in the Christian constituency. If we take the last table and, instead of considering the proportion of the communicants to the non-Christian population, consider the proportion of communicants to the Christian constituency, we gain a very different view. We gain then an idea of the character of the Christians. Instead of an idea of the size of the force at work we receive an impression of the quality of the force. Even one who lays little stress on the value and necessity of sacraments would not deny that he would expect more from a Church of 1000 in which 500 were communicants than he would from a Church of 1000 of which only 100 were communicants. He might deny that his expectation was based upon any faith in the virtue of sacraments, but he would acknowledge the fact that in our experience the Church which possesses large numbers of communicants is generally stronger than the Church which possesses a small number. The comparison of the number of communicants in relation to the number of the total Christian constituency does properly produce an impression of the strength of the Christian body.

If we can fill up the table

——————————————————————————————————-District.| Total. | Communicants | Proportion of | Remarks and| Christian | or Full | Communicants | Conclusions| Constituency.| Members. | to Christian || | | Constituency. |——————————————————————————————————-| | | |——————————————————————————————————-

we gain an impression of the strength of the Church. But it is important to observe that it is only in relation to the earlier tables, which set out the force in relation to the work to be done, that this impression of strength is of immediate importance to us. We are dealing with a missionary survey, a survey concerned with the propagation of the Gospel. The mere strength of the Church, unrelated to any work in which the strength is to be employed, is a very different matter. We might take pleasure in the sight of it. We might congratulate ourselves and the missionaries on the beauty of the strength revealed, but not until it is related to work to be done does strength appear in its true glory. We find in nearly all missionary statistics the number of communicants and converts set forth, and we often wonder what for. It cannot be that we may glory in our conquests and say: See how many converts and communicants we have made! But, unrelated to any task to be done, that is all that appears. Therefore we have instituted this comparison here, in close relation to the earlier tables, that we may know what is the force on the spot at work in the area defined.

Next, the proportion of Paid Workers in proportion to the number of the Christian constituency and the communicants is a most illuminating factor. By itself it is a difficult factor to appreciate rightly. Suppose we find, as we do sometimes find, that one out of every ten communicants is a paid worker. That may imply that the proportion of rice Christians is very high, or it may imply a high standard of zeal, very many of the converts being able and willing to devote themselves to Christian work and at the same time too poor to be able to support themselves without pay. This proportion, therefore, should be carefully checked by a table which shows the proportion of unpaid workers and another which shows the standard of wealth. But commonly we are given the number of paid workers, and given neither the number of unpaid voluntary workers, nor the standard of wealth, and therefore the danger of reading amiss the number of paid workers is great. We have already explained the difficulty of obtaining exact figures, or even estimates, of the number of voluntary unpaid workers, but a mere glance at the proportion of paid workers to communicants should be enough to persuade any man who desires to judge our work fairly of the necessity for such a table as we now suggest.

——————————————————————————————————-District.| Paid | Proportion | Proportion of | Remarks and| Workers. | of Paid Workers | Paid Workers | Conclusions| | to Christian | to || | Constituency. | Communicants. |——————————————————————————————————-| | | |——————————————————————————————————-

——————————————————————————————————-District.| Unpaid |Proportion |Proportion of | Remarks and| Workers. |of Unpaid Workers|Unpaid Workers | Conclusions| |to Christian |to || |Constituency. |Communicants. |——————————————————————————————————-| | | |——————————————————————————————————-

——————————————————————————————————-| | Proportion of Christian || | Constituency. According || | to Local Standard. |——————————————————————————————————-District.| Christian | Well | Poor | In | Remarks and| Constituency. | to do. | | Poverty | Conclusions| | | | |——————————————————————————————————-| | | | |——————————————————————————————————-

There is indeed a way of judging the zeal of native Christians for the propagation of the Gospel very popular among missionaries, the way of tabulating and comparing the amount which they subscribe for missionary work. Obviously this method is the form most natural to us, but it is one of the worst conceivable. When a Christian congregation lives surrounded by heathen, for it to learn to satisfy the divine spirit of missions by putting money into a box, is most dangerous. The zeal of Christians for the spread of the Gospel ought always to be expressed first in active personal service. We should prefer to omit any question as to the amount subscribed for missionary work far off. We believe it to be a most delusive and deluding test. It deceives the giver, it deceives the inquirer. We should prefer to inquire the number of hearers or inquirers brought to the Church by the undirected effort of the Church members, or the number of Church members who go out to teach or preach in their neighbourhood, or perhaps best of all, the number of little Christian congregations which as a body are actively engaged in evangelising their neighbours. But we admit missionary contributions as an additional question

That a Church must be instructed and instruct its children all are agreed: where men differ is with respect to the manner of the teaching. On the one side are those who would safeguard the faith by committing the teaching of it to a small body of carefully trained men, the clergy, whilst the majority of the Christians, the laity, remain unlearned and accept what is taught by the trained official teachers: on the other side are those who would boldly commit the faith to all, opening to all the door of learning. The one party would preserve the faith in the hands of a select few, the other would put the Bible into every man's hands. It is an old controversy; but we suppose nearly all those for whom we write are of the second party, men who would gladly see every Christian able to read the Bible and to base his religious life upon it. We stand for the open Bible; we believe that the Christian Church in every country will progress and develop strongly if it is based on a widespread knowledge of Holy Writ, and we are prepared to believe that a capacity to read the Bible is a sure sign of health in any Christian Church. The test of literacy commonly adopted in our missions is the capacity to read the Holy Gospels: we accept that gladly and confidently.

Furthermore, the influence of the Christian Church in the country will largely depend upon the extent to which the Christians are better able to read and understand literary expression than their heathen neighbours.

We want then to know the literacy of the Christian community as compared with the literacy of the non-Christian population from which it springs, and, if possible, a little more than that—what proportion of the Christians have had a sufficient education to enable them not only to satisfy the very slight demands of a literary test, but to have some wider knowledge with which to improve their own position and to enlighten others.

The table which results is as follows:—

In this table we touch one of the points on which exact figures are often inaccessible and an estimate must be made. An estimate which is recognised as an estimate is not misleading, and, if it is carefully made and based on evidence understood, is generally most useful, only estimates carelessly made and mistaken for precise and accurate statements of fact are misleading.

These tables would, we suggest, suffice to give us a fairly clear idea of the strength of the force at work, especially if they are taken in conjunction with the tables which we suggest under the heading of the Native Church in Chapter VIII. where we deal particularly with organisation.

We ought now to be able to form some idea of the work to be done and of the force to do it. We know in quantitative terms the work to be done, we know the relative force of missionaries, we know the relative strength of the native Christian constituency, its communicants, its workers, its education, its wealth, in relation to the work to be done.

We have now to consider how the force is directed, along what lines it is applied, and how its efforts are co-ordinated.

When we know the area and the force at work in it, we must next consider how this force is applied. We need to know in what proportion it works amongst men and women, how far different classes of the population are reached by it, and what emphasis is placed upon different forms of work, evangelistic, medical, and educational. We propose then four tables which will help us to understand these things.

First, we inquire into the relative strength of the force in relation to work among men and women. In the foreign missionary force we distinguish men, wives, and single women; in the native force we distinguish only men and women; because marriage generally affects the character of the foreigner's work more than it affects the character of the work done by the native Christians who live in their own homes among their own people.

Since it is generally agreed that men in the main appeal to men, and women to women, that table should tell us roughly what is the force at work in relation to men and women; and any mistake in that supposition will be checked by the statistics for the Christian constituency, which serve a double purpose. The statistics of the Christian constituency show us not only an important part of the Christian force at work in relation to the men and women of the non-Christian population; but in relation to the foreigners and the native workers they also help us to see how far the idea that men appeal to men and women to women, is in fact a good working rule.

Next it is desirable to know to what classes the mission especially appeals. Here we shall probably have to accept estimates, sometimes rough estimates, for part at least of the information desirable; in some cases the table may be impossible; in some it may be most useful. The table which we suggest is:—

In the Christian Constituency—

If that table could be filled up it would show at a glance what class of the people was reached most easily and fully, and whether any were unduly neglected.

Then, in many station areas there are divergencies of race and religion, and it is important to know how far the mission is reaching each of these. In some areas, for instance, large numbers of converts are made from the pagan population whilst a Moslem population in the area is practically untouched; in some nearly all the converts are made from one caste out of many. That is no reason for adverse criticism of the mission: it may be, and often is, a reason for striking harder at the point on which the work is now most successful; but it is a fact which throws great light on the nature of the work done and upon the character of the Church which is rising in the area, and therefore cannot be ignored. We append then a table to reveal this:—

We cannot possibly supply the table complete for all areas in the world. We suggest that such a table kept up to date would reveal not only facts useful to illustrate the progress of the Christian faith, but also to show the progress of aggressive non-Christian religions such as Mohammedanism.

Then we want to know what is the emphasis put on different forms of missionary work, evangelistic, medical, educational. Here we come to a difficulty. Medical missionaries, thank God, do evangelistic work, and so do educational missionaries, and one day we shall learn that the evangelistic missionary, technically so called, is doing a most important educational work, and often truly medical, healing work. The division is a technical one and missionary-hearted men begin to resent it; they are all evangelic in their work, if not technically evangelistic, and the division seems unreal, unnatural, untrue. It would be a sad day for our missions if medical and educational missionaries ceased to be at heart evangelists, and were content to leave evangelistic work to others. Nevertheless, the technical distinction is a real one and must be expressed. Some men express their evangelistic fervour naturally and providentially in medical form, others in scholastic, others in teaching, preaching, and organising of the converts and the hearers. But how shall we divide them? The best plan seems to be to put each man into that category in which he spends most of his time, and in cases of doubt to use fractions, e.g. a doctor may be as keen an evangelist and may preach and strive to convert his patients as eagerly as his colleague who is called an evangelistic missionary. An evangelistic missionary is perhaps a doctor by training or experience, and heals the sick as eagerly as his colleague who is called a medical missionary. Each is unwilling to be catalogued in one column only. He feels, and feels rightly, that that single figure belies the facts. The evangelistic missionary may be the only doctor in the whole area who really understands the use of western drugs and implements, the doctor may be the only evangelist in the whole area who really knows how to preach the Gospel in language which the people can understand. Clearly, in such cases the only possible thing to do is to use a fraction, though the inner truth might be more easily expressed by figures which represented that one man as two or three.

The table then is as follows:—

[Footnote 1: All funds derived from foreigners except Government grants.]

[Footnote 2: Including fees and contributions.]

It will be observed that this table is designed, like all the others, to serve primarily one single purpose. Since that purpose is to show the relative weight thrown by the mission and the Christians into different forms of evangelistic expression, all missionaries, all native workers, all funds mainly occupied in each form are lumped together. There is no need at this stage to distinguish doctors from nurses, or Bible-women from pastors or priests.

From these tables we should hope to gain a general idea of the direction of the force at work.

We thrust in here an inquiry concerning a form of work upon which many missions lay great stress. It is exceedingly difficult to classify. It is not certainly evangelistic work, though it is commonly organised by evangelistic workers; it is not educational in the sense that educational missionaries accept it as a definitely recognised part of their work, though educational methods are employed and it often has a distinctly educational purpose. It is sometimes a form of Sunday service almost akin to a Church service. It is often a form of children's school where the religious teaching given, or neglected, during the week in the day school is supplemented: it is sometimes a form of elementary school for adults, Christian, or inquirers: it is a form of Bible school for adult Christian workers. It is a method of propaganda for the conversion of heathen children or adults. It is a form of work where untrained Christian voluntary workers find opportunity for expressing their religious zeal; it is a form of work in which experts in certain types of elementary religious teaching revel. It is educational work carried on by those who are not technically educationalists: it is evangelistic work carried on by those who are not technically evangelists.

What sort of information then are we to seek concerning it? It is so important that it cannot be omitted; it is so widespread that it almost demands special consideration; it is so protean that tables designed to reveal all its aspects and values would be with difficulty designed, and tediously minute. From the point of view of this survey it would be futile to ask, as most of the societies ask, simply for the number of Sunday schools, the number of teachers, and the number of scholars. From those bare numbers we can gain no information which really enlightens us. We want to know what the Sunday schools exist for, and whether they are accomplishing the object of their existence. But we cannot define, nor even enumerate all the objects. We therefore arbitrarily select three which are directly related to the establishment of a native Church, and make one table serve. We inquire: (1) How they are related to the Christian constituency; from this we hope to learn the extent to which Sunday schools are a part of the Church life. (2) How the teachers are related to the communicants (or full members); from this we hope to learn the extent to which the voluntary effort of the communicants finds expression in this work. (3) How the scholars are related to baptisms and confirmations (or admission as full members); from this we hope to learn to what extent the Sunday-schools are a recruiting ground for the Church.

The table then is as follows:—

+———————————————————————————-+——-+ District | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Number of Sunday Schools. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Proportion of Sunday Schools to Christian Constituency. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Sunday School Teachers. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Proportion of Communicants. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Sunday School Scholars. (M./F.) | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Proportion of Sunday School Scholars | | Baptised in the Year. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Proportion of Scholars Confirmed | | or Admitted Full Members in the Year. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Remarks and Conclusions. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+

Thus far of the force in its general aspect. When we turn to closer consideration of the medical and educational work we meet with a difficulty. Medical and educational work, as we have already pointed out, often, if not generally, have a definitely evangelistic character, but each, nevertheless, appears to be designed to meet a special need of the Church and people. There is a strong tendency in thought, and often in speech, to emphasise this special need and to make it a distinct, separate need. Herein lies a danger. Medical missions are sometimes urged upon our attention as though they were founded to meet a medical need of the people, as if it were the recognised and accepted duty of missionary societies and of missionaries to supplant the native medical practice by western scientific methods as certainly and fully as it is their recognised and accepted duty to supplant native religion by the faith of Christ. But that we for our part emphatically deny. The one may be a philanthropic duty; the other certainly is a religious duty. Consequently we deny that there is a medical need which it is the duty of missionaries to supply in the sense in which we affirm that there is a religious need which it is the duty of missionaries to supply. Medical missions are, and ought to be, evangelistic in their aim, mere handmaids[1] of evangelism. Similarly we deny a separate and distinct educational need which it is the duty of missionary societies to supply. The missionary societies ought not to take upon themselves the supply of every need. We think the Christian Church is misled when it allows the medical need of a country to be presented as a distinct need which it is the duty of missionaries to meet, and when it allows the ignorance of a country to be presented as a distinct need which it is the duty of missionaries to meet. From such a presentation educational missions become detached, medical missions become detached, each designed to meet a distinct and separate need of the people.

[Footnote 1: If any reader experiences a revulsion at this expression, he will know at once what we mean when we say that a distinction has been drawn between evangelistic, medical, and educational missions as though they were three co-equal and separate things. They are not co-equal and they ought not to be separate. Education does not necessarily reveal Christ, medical science does not necessarily reveal Christ, only as education and medicine assist the revelation of Christ are they proper subjects for Christian missionary enterprise, that is, only when they are clearly and unmistakably subordinate to an evangelistic purpose. Of course we do not undervalue medical and educational efficiency: efficiency should increase evangelistic power.]

One result of the sharp distinction which is drawn between medical and educational and evangelistic work is that in some countries there are distinct medical and educational associations which collect information about the state of medical and educational missions in the country, dealing with these missionary activities most prominently, if not wholly, from the point of view of medical and educational efficiency. These associations issuequestionnairesand publish reports often more full, detailed, and carefully compiled than any evangelistic reports. Consequently it is peculiarly dangerous for a layman unacquainted with the working of these associations to trespass upon their preserves. These departmental surveys should be treated separately by experts. Nevertheless, since we are dealing with the work of the station in its area, and this work includes often medical and educational work, we cannot pass over it with no more than the general treatment which we have hitherto given. We need to know what is the medical and what the educational work carried on at the station, when these are viewed, as they are viewed, separately, as distinct expressions of missionary zeal.

Dealing first with medical missions we suppose that the question might be put in this form, What are the medical missionary resources available in the district in relation to the need which it is proposed to meet?

Here again there arises the difficulty that there is no common agreement as to the purpose of the medical work of the missionary societies. What are the doctors there for? What does the hospital exist to do? Who can tell? So diverse are the ideas of different men on this subject, so little thought out, that a man of unusual experience told us that he had met few missionary doctors who could answer the question: "On the basis of what facts ought the question of the establishment of a hospital to be decided?" Few could tell him whether in sending doctors the missionary societies ought to consider the duty of caring for the health of their missionaries first or last. Few could tell him whether the care of the health of the children in schools and institutions was the first duty, or the last, or any duty at all, of the medical missionary. Yet obviously, those two points if they were once admitted would influence largely the location of doctors and hospitals. Again, we hear it argued that missionary societies ought to establish medical schools, hospitals, and institutions of the finest possible type in order to show how the thing really ought to be done, to demonstrate the very best example of western medical work, and to train natives to a western efficiency. That would not only influence the location of doctors and hospitals, it would also affect the character of the buildings and would demand a special type of medical missionary. Or again, we hear it argued that medical missions are the point of the missionary sword; but if it is the point of the sword then it ought to be in front of the blade. That, too, would direct the location of the doctors and hospitals. It would also affect the character of the building unless the missionary sword is to become an immovable object, which having once cleft a rock remains fast in the breach until a God-sent hero, like King Arthur, appears to pull it out and set it to work again. We cannot state all the different aims. They are not simple and formulated; they are complex and confused. Very often the establishment of a medical mission turns upon no more thorough examination of the facts of the situation than the conviction of a capable missionary that there is need for medical work in his district, and that he must supply it if he can, and that he must persevere in appeals till he can supply it. When a man asks: "On the basis of what facts ought this or that to be done in the mission field?" he has got a long way into the complexity of the problem, and the need for survey, if a society is to act with wisdom, is already apparent to him. But most men in the past have acted simply, without much argument: they said, "Here is a need; I can supply it," and the societies were the feeders of such men. Naturally. So one hospital and a doctor was the point of a sword which in twenty years' time was stuck fast in the rock; and then the hospital was enlarged and became a medical school under the fervent direction of a doctor who was a natural teacher; and then it became an institution, and then part of a college. And in all this there may have been no definite policy, any more than there was any definite policy in the guidance of its twin brother, which, instead of changing its character, remained what it had always been, the point of a sword, only buried in a rock, competing feebly with a Government institution. When one writes of mixed motives, and mixed policies, and mixed methods, it is natural to use mixed metaphors.

But to return to our point. It is not easy to say what some hospitals are there for. If we knew, we could at least formulate tables to set out the progress which they have made towards the object proposed. That would be reasonable survey as we have defined it. To collect all possible information concerning all the things which the doctor or hospital might do, or may be doing, unrelated to any end, is to collect a mass of information which we cannot use; and that we have declined to do. What course then can we pursue? We propose first to accept the notion that the medical mission is there to supply a medical need of the people, and to consider how far it does that; and then to look at the medical work at the station as definitely designed to assist the evangelisation of the people, as evangelistic in its purpose. We have, therefore, designed a double set of tables to serve these two purposes.

First, tables to show the medical work in relation to the presumed need of the district for western medicine.

Here, as before for evangelistic work, so now for medical, we have expressed the relation between the medical work and the district in terms both of area and population in order that each table may be a check upon the other. Thus:—

(i) In terms of area.

——————————————————————————————————| |Number of| | | || |Qualified|Number of |Number of |Number of|Number of| |Medicals.|Assistants.|Hospitals.| Nurses. |Dispens-| | | | | |aries.District.|Area.|————-|—————-|—————|————-|————-| | M. | F. | M. | F. |For | For | M. | F. || | | | | |men |women| | |————-|——-|——|——|——-|——-|——|——-|——|——|————-| | | | | | | | | || | | | | | | | | || | | | | | | | | |——————————————————————————————————| | | | | | | | | |_________|_____|____|____|_____|_____|____|_____|____|____|__________

(ii) In terms of population.

It will be observed that in this second table the items are not identical with those in the preceding table. In the place of hospitals we have beds; because in relation to the area the thing of importance is the number of the hospitals; but in relation to population the thing of importance is the number of beds available. Two hospitals in a single area are probably not in the same place and imply more widespread influence; but if each has twenty beds, in proportion to population it is of no importance whether the forty beds are in one place or two: forty in-patients fill the beds.

But in medical work, when we are considering the need of the district, another factor of importance often enters. The medicals of the mission are often not the only men meeting that need. There are often others, Government officials, or private practitioners, who, from the point of view of medical practice, are doing the same work. The medical need of a district where the missionary doctor is the only exponent of western medicine is not the same as that of the district where he is competing with Government or private doctors fully trained as he is. Consequently it is essential in order to understand the position that we should know what other, non-missionary, medical assistance is available, and we need the following table:—

——————————————————————————————————-|Hospitals.|Qualified|Assistants.|Nurses.|Dispensaries.|Beds.| |Practi- | | | |tioners. | | | |————|—————|————-|—————-|———-|——————-|—-| | | | | |Mission-| | | | | |ary| ____ | ____ | ____ | ____ | ____ | ___——————————————————————————————————| | | | | |Non- | | | | | |Mission-| | | | | |ary| ____ | ____ | ____ | ____ | ____ | ___| | | | | |——————————————————————————————————-

If any surveyor finds it difficult to fill in such a table, he must make an estimate, but he ought to realise that a table of the kind is a necessary part of any appeal for increased support; for support cannot be reasonably given to his workon the ground of this medical needunless these facts are known. Of course that does not mean that support ought to be given or withheld solely on the statistics so provided. There may be a thousand reasons for strengthening and enlarging work where this table would suggest less need; but no support should be given in ignorance of these facts.

Then we need tables to reveal, as far as such tables can reveal anything, the extent of the medical mission work done in the year.

——————————————————————————————————District|Area|Popul-|Hospital |Dispensary,|Total|Propor- |Remarks| |ation |Patients in|Patients in|Pat- |tion of |and| | |Year |Year |ients|Patients |Conclu-| | | | | |to Popul-|sions| | | | | |ation |——————————————————————————————————-| | | | | | || | |M.|F.|Child|M.|F.|Child| | || | | | | | | | | | |——————————————————————————————————-| | | | | | | | | | |________|____|______|__|__|_____|__|__|_____|_____|_________|________

Turning then from the medical need to be met, we proposed to inquire into the medical work as an evangelistic agency. This inquiry is hard to formulate; but we suggest that the three tables appended, taken in conjunction with the preceding, would throw certain light on this question, and would help towards a true understanding.

First, we inquire into the relative extent to which the medical workers make use of the assistance of evangelistic workers. This table wouldnotreveal the evangelistic influence of the hospital. On the one hand, there is sometimes a tendency for the medical men and women to do medical work exclusively, and to leave all religious work to the evangelistic workers, and to give way to the temptation to imagine that if evangelistic workers read or preach in the waiting-room and visit the patients, the medicals can be satisfied that they have done their duty as medical missionaries. On the other hand, a medical who does his medical work in the Spirit, who speaks to and prays with his patients, exercises an evangelistic influence wider and deeper than that of many of the evangelistic workers directly so called, and in such a case the fact that the evangelistic workers are apparently lacking in the hospital does not at all show that the medical work is not a strong evangelistic force. But any danger of misguidance which might arise if this table stood alone must be counteracted by the other tables; for the three can be taken together. And when this allowance has been made the table is useful with the others, and lights one side of the question before us.

[Footnote 1: By "on staff" we mean regularly attached to, or regularly visiting.]

When we have seen the extent to which the medicals use the evangelistic workers in their institutions, we need to know the extent to which the medicals assist the evangelistic workers outside the institutions. We put this in the form of a table designed to reveal the extent to which the medicals assist in evangelistic tours, helping the evangelistic workers on tour, either by healing the sick on the spot, or by sending them to the hospitals, or by preaching, or in all these ways.

—————————————————————————————————- Number of |Number of |Number of |Number of |Number of |Remarks Evange- |Evangelistic|Medicals |Days spent by|Days spent|and listic |Workers |Assisting.|Evangelistic |by |Conclu- Tours. |Assisting. | |Workers. |Medicals. |sions. —————|——————|—————|——————-|—————|———- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | —————————————————————————————————- | | | | | __________|____________|__________|_____________|__________|_______

Finally, we inquire how far the direct evangelistic influence of the hospitals and dispensaries can be traced. We might at first suppose that this could be done by asking the number of inquirers enrolled as a direct consequence of attendance at hospitals and dispensaries; but it is not surprising that patients are willing to enrol their names as inquirers simply to please the doctors or nurses, without any intention of pursuing the matter further when they leave the hospital; and consequently such a question by itself might be very misleading. We therefore add two further questions, the first, what number of communicants trace their conversion to their visits to hospitals or dispensaries, the second, what number of places have been opened to Christian teachers and preachers by the influence of doctors and patients. Some missionary doctors are much interested in this inquiry, and we all might well be interested in it. The answers would be a most important contribution to our study, and might go far to justify medical missions as an evangelistic agency.

+———————————————————————————-+——-+ Number of Inquirers Enrolled in the Year as a Direct | | Consequence of Attendance at Hospitals and Dispensaries.| | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Proportion of Total Inquirers. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Enrolled in the Year. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Number of Communicants Derived from Attendance | | at Hospitals and Dispensaries in the Year. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Proportion of Communicants Enrolled in the Year. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Number of Places Opened to Christian Teachers through | | the Influence of Doctors or Patients in the Year. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Proportion of Total Places Opened in the Year. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+ Conclusions and Remarks. | | +———————————————————————————-+——-+

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