Chapter 8

 If the women’s movement expresses, as it undoubtedly¹ does, a spiritual aspiration², I think the same may be said with perhaps equal force of the labor³ movements in Western countries. That many working-men have been practically unable to develop the higher side of their nature, on account of the conditions of labor, is generally admitted. The movement for higher wages and better conditions of work is, after all, something more than the expression of a grievance⁴ against capital. There is the deep yearning⁵ for a fuller life. This great aspiration the Churches should recognize and seek to meet. Speaking for my own country, I can say that one of the great obstacles with which the Churches are confronted in dealing⁶ with the working-men 100is the suspicion of the mercenary spirit. To the workingman, the clergyman is paid to do a certain job and must justify⁷ his existence. Of course this is a prejudice which is soon removed when the man gets into such personal relations with the minister as to feel the heartbeat of a true friendship, but often these personal relationships are hindered through the prejudice referred to. Do not these facts suggest that there is a need for one section of the Church which has not this disability and whose ministers are all laymen⁸?

 

And this brings me to the further thought of the need for this very testimony⁹ on the mission field to-day. The other day in India a missionary¹⁰ of another Society said to me, “Whatever you Friends do, do not give up your principles in regard to a free ministry¹¹,” and he proceeded to quote to me a case of some well-to-do young men whose mother was an earnest Christian¹² woman. She, it appeared, had been urged to take up regular Christian work, and they had constantly stood in the way. When pressed as to the reason for such 101action, they informed the missionary that they could not allow their mother to take up Christian work because the neighbors would at once say that they could not afford to keep her; so intimately were the ideas of Christian work and the payment of a salary connected in the minds of the Indians. How often do we hear the gibe¹³ flung at Christian Missions that their converts are all “rice Christians¹⁴!” The element of truth in the slander¹⁵ of course is this—that so many of the best are called to direct religious work for which they receive regular payment. At a conference of leading Christians held recently, a strong representation was made to the foreigners present, and through them to the home boards, to the effect that missionaries¹⁶ should lay greater emphasis on the calling of Christians into business life and cease to so state the problem of Christian service as to lead to the inevitable¹⁷ conclusion that the only place for the most consecrated¹⁸ Christians was the ministry. The great need, in fact, is that there should be a vast increase of voluntary workers; that the 102idea of “every Christian a missionary” should permeate¹⁹ the whole Church, both at home and abroad. We have seen recently that wonderful results can flow when this ideal dominates the Church, as in the history of the last ten years in Korea.

 

Now Friends have a position of peculiar²⁰ strength in this matter and one which in England has been nobly used, especially through the Adult School movement.

 

I am not here to say that the practice of Friends needs no modification²¹, in view of the special circumstances either of missionary work abroad or of the conditions of a new country like this; but I do most emphatically believe that Friends have here a great testimony and one which is needed by the whole Christian Church.

 

I am not maintaining that there is no place for the supported minister. You in America have found for him a larger place, in the special conditions of your life, than we have among Friends in England; but, even here, I am persuaded that you recognize to the full the primary thought that a 103man is not paid for his services or in proportion thereto, but that he is simply maintained in order that he may fulfil the ministry which has been entrusted²² to him.

 

Is there not also great value in the insistence²³ upon the fact that the ministry of the Church is not dependent upon the laying on of hands, or any other outward ceremony? I should like to quote again from the West China document to which I have already referred, under the heading of “Ministry.”

 

“1. The supreme²⁴ and only indispensable qualification for the Christian ministry is the Divine call, habitually²⁵ responded to. Any man or woman so used of God is thereby²⁶ constituted a Christian minister.

 

“2. The part of the Church is to recognize such ministers.”

 

It is not only the mere²⁷ fact of his salary which makes the workingman shun²⁸ the parson. It is the thought of a class set apart, different from the ordinary man in the street. Are we making full use of the advantage we possess through having our 104business men engaged in the active ministry of the Church? If we have broken down the barrier between lay and cleric, have we not at the same time done something to remove the barrier between labor and the Church?

 

The Church, then, needs to be reminded perpetually that the ministry is not the work of a class but of all, and that the service of Christ is not a profession but a free-will offering.

 

1 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

2 aspiration   

n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出

参考例句：

• Man's aspiration should be as lofty as the stars.人的志气应当象天上的星星那么高。
• Young Addison had a strong aspiration to be an inventor.年幼的爱迪生渴望成为一名发明家。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 grievance   

n.怨愤，气恼，委屈

参考例句：

• He will not easily forget his grievance.他不会轻易忘掉他的委屈。
• He had been nursing a grievance against his boss for months.几个月来他对老板一直心怀不满。

5 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

8 laymen   

门外汉，外行人( layman的名词复数 )； 普通教徒（有别于神职人员）

参考例句：

• a book written for professionals and laymen alike 一本内行外行都可以读的书
• Avoid computer jargon when you write for laymen. 写东西给一般人看时，应避免使用电脑术语。

9 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

10 missionary   

adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士

参考例句：

• She taught in a missionary school for a couple of years.她在一所教会学校教了两年书。
• I hope every member understands the value of missionary work. 我希望教友都了解传教工作的价值。

11 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

12 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

13 gibe   

n.讥笑；嘲弄

参考例句：

• I felt sure he was seeking for some gibe. 我敢说他正在寻找一句什么挖苦话。
• It's impolite to gibe at a foreign student's English. 嘲笑外国学生的英语是不礼貌的。

14 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

15 slander   

n./v.诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• The article is a slander on ordinary working people.那篇文章是对普通劳动大众的诋毁。
• He threatened to go public with the slander.他威胁要把丑闻宣扬出去。

16 missionaries   

n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some missionaries came from England in the Qing Dynasty. 清朝时，从英国来了一些传教士。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The missionaries rebuked the natives for worshipping images. 传教士指责当地人崇拜偶像。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

18 consecrated   

adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献

参考例句：

• The church was consecrated in 1853. 这座教堂于1853年祝圣。
• They consecrated a temple to their god. 他们把庙奉献给神。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 permeate   

v.弥漫，遍布，散布；渗入，渗透

参考例句：

• Water will easily permeate a cotton dress.水很容易渗透棉布衣服。
• After a while it begins to permeate through your skin.过了一会，它会开始渗入你的皮肤。

20 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

21 modification   

n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻

参考例句：

• The law,in its present form,is unjust;it needs modification.现行的法律是不公正的，它需要修改。
• The design requires considerable modification.这个设计需要作大的修改。

22 entrusted   

v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He entrusted the task to his nephew. 他把这任务托付给了他的侄儿。
• She was entrusted with the direction of the project. 她受委托负责这项计划。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 insistence   

n.坚持；强调；坚决主张

参考例句：

• They were united in their insistence that she should go to college.他们一致坚持她应上大学。
• His insistence upon strict obedience is correct.他坚持绝对服从是对的。

24 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

25 habitually   

ad.习惯地，通常地

参考例句：

• The pain of the disease caused him habitually to furrow his brow. 病痛使他习惯性地紧皱眉头。
• Habitually obedient to John, I came up to his chair. 我已经习惯于服从约翰，我来到他的椅子跟前。

26 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

27 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

28 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。