A Thought for Our Young People by A. C. Selmon

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Nov 7, 1907

A Thought for Our Young People

By A. C. Selmon

“I DREW them . . . with bands of love,” so the Lord says of the wayward ones among the children of Israel. Would you as the Lord’s messenger win out the wayward ones back to the fold today? Then you also must draw them with bands of love. With people who for ages have been under Satan’s dominion, love has been almost crushed out, and, because of this, love shown in deeds is the only kind that they really comprehend.

From my own experience I know that many, coming to a field like China, will, upon first arrival, have a heart full of love for the people among whom they are to work; and only those who have this love should come. The first few weeks or months may produce a change in one’s affections for the people. Their filthy surroundings and their insincerity are very apt to lead one to regard himself as their superior in every respect. So it is that a sort of caste at once springs up between the missionary and the people, and even between the missionary and his native evangelists and colporteurs. I am conscious of the fact that there was something of this in my own experience. At first I spoke of “the Chinese,” later I addressed them as “the Chinese brethren,” and I am thankful that the Lord has been leading me on, so that now I speak of them as “the brethren.” This has not only been a change in the way of addressing them, but it has been a change in the mutual relation existing between us.

The best commentary upon the relation existing between the mission body and the native church here in China, is shown by the recent movement among some of the leaders of the native church for independence. This is but the logical outcome of the caste that exists between the foreign and native workers. Paul’s precept, to be all things to all men that he might by all means save some, in no place should be more thoroughly carried out than among the people of China.

I was out traveling with one of the evangelists, and reaching a village late at night, the only inn that could be found was a shed, open on one side to the November wind. The greater part of the room was taken up by several wheelbarrow-loads of crockery, and one end of the room was occupied by the innkeeper’s three goats. The only sign of a bed was a door lying across two stools, but this was preferable to the cold, damp ground. The evangelist, never having been out traveling with me, began spreading his bedding upon the bare ground, leaving the bed for me. I told him we would share the door together. I thought little of it at the time, but I afterward learned that this little act did more than anything else could have done to make him feel that I regarded him as a brother and fellow worker.

It has been well shown, in the lives of the few men who have really done a great work in spreading the gospel in China, that they lived close to the people; that they regarded their native helpers as brethren and fellow workers. They also carefully avoided anything that would lead to any feeling of caste springing up. This they did by avoiding any display, either in the houses they lived in or in the furnishing of their homes; and they even adopted the dress of the people in many cases. To do this is only to follow the example of the Master. He lived very plainly when here among men, accepting the hospitality of the people, and going in and out among them without any outward pomp and display.

To those who would come to a field such as China, an important part of the preparation is to follow the example of J. Hudson Taylor, and dispense with many things that are usually considered necessaries, but are really not necessaries. The furnishing of your room could be simpler, and your clothing and food might be plainer, with much profit to you in every way. By so doing and with such a preparation, when you come to work among plain-dressing and plain-living people in a foreign land, you will be able to get close to them, and your life among them will be to them the most convincing testimony of the value of the message you bear.

A. C. SELMON.