Suppose a young man is born in a land where the Bible is in every home. He grows up under the shadow of church steeples. When he goes out to another land where they do not know about Jesus, or God, or the Bible, how can he make the most favorable contact? What is the better method of approach, to avoid stumbling along the way? What counsel have you?
When he arrives in his field, he should first of all devote himself to getting the language of the people, because the probabilities are that otherwise he will blunder in whatever he attempts, or at least will do something wrong. The period of language study gives time for adjustment. When we went to the mission field, there was no one who had preceded us, as we were the first missionaries this denomination ever sent to the heathen. We did not have any one to instruct us. So when we went out to the mission field one of the first things we started to strike at was polygamy, and we put tremendous emphasis upon it. But we have learned by experience that it is better to follow the method of Jesus.
Christ, you remember, built up something before He tore down their customs, and it was only at the very last of His ministry that He said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" Before that He had instructed them as to what they should be; and after that was done, He commenced to tear away the hypocrisy that was among them. Now, the missionary must do just that; he must build up a system of truth before he condemns the practices of heathenism. Otherwise, he erects an insuperable barrier. Then when we come to the problem of polygamy, we approach the question something like this: "What was God's plan for man when He made him? He did not give Adam a dozen wives; He gave him one. Abraham took another wife into his family, and see the trouble he had because he did it. Coming along farther, we read about Solomon, and how Solomon was led astray by his many wives." I tell them of God's original plan. That is how we approach and solve this question.
