To what extent do you attempt to compass our fundamental doctrines in dealing with the heathen native?
I use about what you teach to your Junior Missionary Volunteers. That is a fairly definite outline of what we teach our natives, and these truths they must know before they can become members of the church. The native depends on gaining his knowledge largely through his eyes and ears. It is remarkable how much the native remembers of what he hears. One Sabbath I preached a sermon. That afternoon some native children went out for a walk together, and after they had been gone awhile I thought I would follow them. When I came to a kopje, I heard them, and saw that they were on the other side of the rocks. I listened to the songs they were singing. When they finished, they offered a prayer and sang again, and then a boy about fifteen or sixteen years old stood up and repeated my sermon more nearly word for word than I could have repeated it myself, and in exactly my tone of voice. So we have to be very careful what we say.
On the sanctuary question, for example, do you attempt to go into an explanation of the two phases of Christ's ministry?
I read to them the description of the sanctuary that was built by Moses, and how God told him to pattern it after the one in heaven. I tell them that Moses made two parts to this sanctuary, just like the one in heaven, and that Christ is now in the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary, acting as our High Priest, the same as Aaron did on the Day of Atonement in the earthly sanctuary that Moses built. I tell them that when Christfirst went up into heaven, He was ministering in the outer sanctuary; but just as, on the Day of Atonement, Aaron went into the other part, so on the Day of Atonement in heaven Christ entered this part, and that we are now in the great Day of Atonement. I do not make mention of dates, but just ask them to believe that we are in that time, and that Christ is in the most holy place, and will stay there until the judgment is finished, at which time He is coming back. I do this without mentioning anything about the year 457, which they would not understand, or the divisions of the 2300 days, or even the year which ended the 2300 days; just teach them the fact that the earthly sanctuary was patterned after the one in heaven.
What do you understand to be the missionary's relation to political or social evils prevalent in the section in which he is working?
They had slavery in the Roman Empire when Jesus was in this world, and they had compulsory labor at that time. Roman troops forced the people to carry their heavy loads. If they were told to carry a load one mile, they were to carry it two, Jesus said. There were crying abuses on the part of the taxgatherers in the Saviour's time, but I cannot find where He ever made any reference to it, and I do not believe we can improve upon His example. "As I am, so are ye in this world," said Jesus. Now why was it that the Saviour did not attack these abuses? He knew the only way to correct them was to transform and take the selfishness out of the human heart, and that what He taught would do that very thing for them, and He did not need to start a reform against any political evil. If any such question is up for agitation, our influence should be in the right direction, as in dealing with the temperance issue.
We should work as the Spirit of prophecy tells us over and over again—along Christlike lines. When Christ established His church on the earth, He did not in the beginning attack any abuses. He started first with a constructive program. It was only at the end of His ministry, after He had built up His constructive platform, that He said, "Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees."
We can ruin many a chance of helping to win the natives to the gospel by attacking their customs before showing them what to believe, thus cutting off the opportunity of ever aiding them.
How do you handle the polygamy question where the convert has more than one wife? Does he take the first wife, and make her his one lawful wife, or may he take the one he chooses?
They are not admitted into church relationship until they have only one wife. My understanding is that the first woman that a man marries is his wife. That is the principle upon which I work. The native's way of living is of course different from the white man's, and in the majority of cases the man does not support his wives; they support him. The tribal law is that when a native puts away his wife, she goes back to her people, and takes her children with her. She has no other choice in the matter, as the man has absolute control as far as tribal law is concerned. He pays the marriage dowry for her, and's he becomes his wife. But she is not his slave, and she is protected by the law in a way that no English law protects an English woman. Her husband cannot take her grain. from her and sell it. She has control of everything that comes from her garden. Her husband cannot take the possessions of his wife and dispose of them, and leave her and her children penniless.
There is, however, an aspect that is far more serious than when the man becomes a Christian, for that can be dealt with easily. But if a man's second, third, or fourth wife becomes a Christian, and wants to be baptized, her husband may say, "I will not put you away. I have paid the marriage dowry for you, and you are still my wife." This is a serious problem that has frequently to be met. And the whole tribe is back of that man, for the woman has been paid for. Her father is also a heathen, the same as her husband, and he does not want to pay anything because she has come back.
Do you accept such women into the church?
Sometimes, and sometimes not. The practice is not uniform. It depends upon the circumstances. The woman may say, "Here I am, bound to that man, and there is no release for me. My father will not give up the dowry, and I am that man's legal wife, and here I am." How can I say that that woman cannot be baptized? This is a serious problem. We always require the man to come to terms; but in dealing with the women, we have to do about the same as you do in this country with women whose husbands are not Adventists. If the heathen husband wants his wife to engage in that which is sin, that is another question. We teach them always to regard principle. Sometimes the husband will ask her to make beer for him. Many such women have been whipped unmercifully because they refused to make beer. Under such a circumstance, they consider that a principle is at stake. So they tell their husbands, "I am an obedient wife, but when it comes to making this alcoholic stuff for you, and violating the counsels of God, I cannot do it."
When it comes to the seventh commandment, with the laxity that exists in heathen lands, just to what extent do you exercise discipline?
Transgressors are disfellowshiped from the church in every instance. In case of repentance, we require rebaptism, and a period of trial before they are received back. And no native worker can be taken into the work again with the same status he had before, if he has committed that sin. If he had been an ordained minister, he cannot be more than a licentiate. We have this provision written into our policy. Under such circumstances, a worker cannot get back into the work under five years, and never in the status that he before occupied.
