IN THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH
In the days of the last War, and for some time afterwards, young men were called up for military service, and might even in peace time be expected to spend two years of their later 'teens or early twenties in training or on call. They were usually unfettered at that time. They might be allowed to complete certain essential education before they were called up, but they had not generally settled down to a fixed post, and they were, as a rule, neither married nor parents.

It was certainly the best time for such service. Can it not be turned to good account in the Lord's service, too? Might we not consider the direct opposite of a perilous policy which says, "Get your training done, get settled down, get yourself a job, and a wife, and a home, and then begin to serve the Lord"? And might we not say instead, "Get out of school, out of college too-using a good portion of your time and strength even in this period in serving your God as best you can-and then, before you settle down in your 'permanent' job, and get into your new home with the wife of your youth, what about a period of service in the Mission Field"?

At the time of writing, there are quite a lot of opportunities for an untravelled young man to go abroad. Many countries are only too glad to accept a trained person to help with their economy, and a travel allowance and a small income are offered for just about the period we have in mind. It may well be possible to render good service to the preaching of the Word, and at the same time to acquire a maturity for service at home-should that be the future decision-such as it takes a long time to acquire for those who abide by the stuff. * Some of us have had to rub our eyes to convince ourselves that the young men who return from the mission field after a couple of years, with all the poise and aplomb of stern experiences faithfully met, are the same people as the diffident young men who set out for the unknown task.

Of course this could be terribly one sided, and the worst service we could render anyone is to say that all a young man needs is to blunder into foreign missionary work, unprepared and unadvised, and expect to come back a leader of men. In such circumstances he is just as likely to come back a mental and spiritual wreck. This is a high calling, and we will not advise anyone to go to battle with ten thousand against him who opposes with twice that number.10

When the Mission Committee in Britain talks to people who want to go and work abroad, the kind of questions it asks are: Are you in the habit of going on campaigns at home? Have you done much Sunday School and Youth Circle work? And, of course, are you a regular Bible reader, and Bible student to boot? It has learned, too, that it should ask the same questions of the elders of the applicant's meeting, for a good report from that quarter counts a lot in assessing the suitability of a candidate for the work. It is this kind of discussion which occasionally leads to the advice that the applicant ought really not, yet awhile, to contemplate going abroad on missionary work, which has occasionally led to disappointed reports that the Committee beckons to workers enthusiastically with the one hand, and waves them away with the other!

But it is only sensible to prepare well beforehand, and there is good time to do so if only we remember our Creator in the days of our youth with a timely baptism, and a well-spent novitiate. The early chapters of this book are no bad prescription for the would-be mission worker, and he should not suppose that chapters 1-8 can be omitted by the one interested only in service abroad. They cannot. And the one interested only in service abroad had better examine himself very carefully, for he could be the worst kind of missionary there is.