Life and work in India; an account of the conditions, methods, difficulties, results, future prospects and reflex influence of missionary labor in India, especially in the Punjab mission of the United Presbyterian Church of North America . eplaced under ecclesiasticalcourts, or committees ofthese courts, who woulddetermine their standingand pay, and their reten-tion in, or dismissal from,the staff of workers. Thiswould give them a freerand more independentspirit, and lead them toact from higher motives. It might be said alsothat if the number of or-ganized congregations greatly increased, as s
Life and work in India; an account of the conditions, methods, difficulties, results, future prospects and reflex influence of missionary labor in India, especially in the Punjab mission of the United Presbyterian Church of North America . eplaced under ecclesiasticalcourts, or committees ofthese courts, who woulddetermine their standingand pay, and their reten-tion in, or dismissal from,the staff of workers. Thiswould give them a freerand more independentspirit, and lead them toact from higher motives. It might be said alsothat if the number of or-ganized congregations greatly increased, as should be the case, manyweak brethren would be admitted into the eldership and the tone ofthat element considerably lowered, and that this would affect thegeneral character of our ecclesiastical courts. But, as we have alreadyseen, there is a considerable body of well-qualified men in the mem-bership of the church from which a choice of elders might be madeand such a result as that which we have mentioned need not necessarilyfollow, and probably would not follow, especially as the church is con-tinually advancing in spiritual character and intelligence. And, evenif the eldership did somewhat degenerate, the balance of good influence. PARSEE CHILDREN. 342 LIFE AND WORK IN INDIA would be maintained still by that increasing native ministerial forcewhose growth in numbers might be expected to run parallel with thatof their associates in authority. True, the ministerial force itself might degenerate through the low-ering of the standard of educational and other qualifications requiredof candidates for the ministry. And here perhaps lies the great dan-ger at the present time ; and one of the chief arguments in favor ofurging the retention of the Middle School standard,* or its equivalent,as the lowest possible for the ministry, is the fact that an inferiorgrade of ordained men might so weaken ecclesiastical bodies as torender the bestowal upon them of large missionary powers a mattero
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectmissionsindia, bookye
