The Thirteenth Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church: 1850. [pp. 525-541]

On the Return of Missionaries.
and then he will be but a barbarian unto them. It is not every
man who can learn a foreign tongue. The want of this talent may
be but a slight disqualification for many kinds of duty in the
sacred office, but in a missionary it is the most serious defect.
Our foreign Committees can commonly guard against the mis take of appointing any one as a missionary, who is not likely
to make this first attainment; and yet they are not infallible,
and they must greatly rely on the recommendations of those
who are best acquainted with the missionary candidate, but
whose judgment on this point may prove erroneous. So important is this acquirement to usefulness, under the ordinary
conditions of missionary life, that it should be a matter clearly
understood, if not expressly stipulated, that no man should
continue in the foreign field, who did not within a reasonable
period acquire the ability to speak the language of the natives,
and this both correctly and fluently. We refer not to excepted cases, occurring under peculiar circumstances, but to
the general rule; and its application, whenever called for,
would clearly decide the question af a missionary's returning
home, inasmuch as the same deficiency would commonly prevent his engaging abroad in any other kind of ministerial
duty.
The most frequent cause of the return of missionaries is the
failure of health, sometimes of their own, and sometimes of
their families. If we are correctly informed, this has been the
sole reason for the return of missionaries connected with our
own Board, in all but two or three instances. And we presume that the experience of other missionary institutions is
not different from this.
It may not be apparent, at first view, why missionaries
should leave their fields of labour for this cause. Why may
they not use the best means of recovery within their reach,
and then calmly commit the issue to the disposal of God, like
their brethren at home when called to suffer sickness? The
answer to this fair question hinges on the difference between
the cases; though even at home a removal from a northern to
a southern state, or a winter spent in the West Indies, is often
advisable as a means of saving or prolonging life.
We are no advocates, however, of missionaries coming home
1850.]
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