The Missionary's Preparation

THE MISSIONARY'S PREPARATION. BY JOHN H. EVANS, OP THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS' UNIVERSITY, SALT LAKE CITY.

Truth embodied In a tale. Shall enter in at lowly doors.— Tennyson.

I am coming to believe less and less in the power of argumentation to reach the soul, and to believe more and more in the power of narration. In other words, I think that the missionary has a far more effective means of delivering his message in the story of "Mormon ism" than he can possibly have in arguments, however complete or logical. So far as we may take mere human preparation into ac- count, I should say, therefore, that the best preparation a young missionary can have is a thorough, sympathetic knowledge of the history of our Church. Several things have led me to this opinion. In the first place, to tell a story or to present a picture .in words has nearly always a soothing, quieting effect on the mind. Young and old alike give themselves up to the spell of the skilful narrator. To argue or to explain a point, on the contrary, not infrequently has the opposite effect —that of stirring our com- bative spirit, resulting, as often as not, in bitterness of feeling.

Now, of these two moods — the quiet and the stirred —which is

the more likely to leave the mind open to impressions of truth? Besides, it is always more difficult to awaken interest, and to keep it after it has been awakened, with an argumentative than it is

with a narrative discourse; and for the very simple reason that argument addresses itself to the intellect, and is abstruse, while narrative addresses itself to the feelings, and is generally

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THE MISSIONARTS PREPARATION. 21

about concrete things. One reason why these opposite effects follow is: that everyone can understand a story: but not everyone can understand and follow an argument. Hence, very often a reallygood argument is lost on many minds. Then, too, people are more easily impressed, and the impression lasts longer, when the feelings are affected; and they are more apt to do something than they are when only the intellect is touched. Indeed, an apt narrative or description well-told is itself an argument, and frequently an argument of the highest positive value. Burns's description of "orie cattle" and "silly sheep," and their sufferings in the pitiless storm is better than half a dozen sermons on mercy. The narrative of Christ's life is the one impressive and unanswerable argument after two thousand years of reasoning. And so the story of the "Mormons," in their strug- gle for religious existence, is a most striking argument for the moral earnestness of the people and the truth of their religion for no error has ever had such a history. I confess freely that

nothing in all the range of human history has had such an effect on me—a strange commingling of power, awe, grandeur, and sublimity— as the simple account of the of the "first vision," "angelic ministration," of the "exodus from Nauvoo," and, finally, of the entire dramatic life of this people. And I am certain that not all this effect is due to my sympathy for "Mormonism." Quite in harmony with these facts is the practice of success- ful preachers of the word, from the great Master to the humblest teachers. And this list includes the apostles of Jesus, ancient and modern. Jesus rarely argued. He stated the truth in plainness and simplicity, and let it strike where it would. To the false doc- trines and traditions of a thousand years, he opposed his simple, "I say." But this method only when he addressed the was his

haughty, self-righteous Pharisee. It was quite different when he

instructed the humble seeker after truth. In this case, he was gentle, and ever willing to teach, and always brought down his teachings to the comprehension of the simplest. Now, how did he make himself understood chiefly by parables and other narra- tives? To the question, "Who is my neighbor?" he answered, not with an elaborate exposition of the word "neighbor," but with a

parable of the "good Samaritan;" and what could be more ex- quisite, more forceful, so absolutel)' clear? When he wished to teach and impress the lesson of mercy and forgiveness, he told another narrative of the "prodigal son." Could anything be more apt and clear and impressive? It stands today as the classic argument to enforce this lesson. And so we could give number- less examples. The methods of his apostles, whether conscious or uncon- scious, were much the same. We have an account of only a few sermons, but these few are mainly narrative. Peter, before the thousands assembled to hear his first discourse after the resurrec- tion of the Lord, recounted the sinless life of his Master; and three thousand were pricked in their hearts and cried, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Stephen, when he was standing dis- robed before the fierce hatred of a mob, ready to be stoned, re- hearsed the history of his people from the beginning, and showed that that history looked forward to, and would be incomplete without Christ. Read that masterly discourse of Paul's before Agrippa, and you will feel the power of narrative. All that Paul does is to tell the story of his own conversion; but he does it with such effect as to move the unbelieving king to exclaim, "Al- most thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Almost! but not quite. This speech will amply repay the closest study. It has been so in our own day. Joseph held thousands spell- bound, not alone by the magic of his voice or presence, but main- ly by the simplicity and touching grandeur of the "first vision" or the "angel's visit." "Don't tear down others' religion," was his advice to the apostles, and they went forth speaking only of their own —how an angel had visited an obscure boy in the West, and delivered him the keys of spiritual power; how a new organization after a divine pattern had been effected; how they had been di-

vinely commissioned to teach and warn the world. The story was its own argument, and thousands were pricked in their hearts. The Voice of Warning, the "Mormon" classic, which is mainly narra- tive, has done more, if we may attempt to estimate eart;hly instru-

ments, than volumes of arguments. "Oh My Father" has glad- dened many a soul. It is such things, not arguments, that touch and soften the heart.

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But to do all this, it requires a thorough knowledge of Church history. To kno;v that the Church was organized in 1830, went from New York to Ohio, was driven from Missouri, and, later, from Nauvoo, and finally settled in the mountains, where it is today flourishing — these things— scraps of information— are not suf- ficient. To preach effectively, we must preach from the fullness of our knowledge. We must have gone down deep into the heart of things, studied the details, and known them as we know our let- ters. Not only so; we must have lived and suffered and bled with the Saints in Missouri, in Nauvoo, on the plains — have lived over, in vivid imagination, the events which we narrate. Knowledge must be sympathetic, or it will accomplish nothing. We must be- lieve, with a terrible earnestness, the truth of our narrative. This thing called "Mormonism" must become part of our being; it must vitalize our affections, fire up our souls with a divine heat. We must ourselves be stirred before we can stir others; we must our- selves feel the truth before we can make others feel it. Sympa- thy is what makes the difference in telling a narrative : the unbe- liever will tell our story very differently from our way. And by sympathy, I do not mean this manufactured stuff. It must be genuine, or it will do harm — it will create positive disbelief. An overpowering earnestness, I should say, is the chief quality of Paul's address before Agrippa. Nor is such a knowledge hard to acquire. On the contrary, it is much more easily mastered than the material for good and effective arguments. To argue well requires a vast information, and an intellect which has submitted to long, systematic training and discipline. Moreover, argumentation has a multitude of devi- ous by-paths, in which, if we are not careful, we shall get lost. It is not so in narration and description. They, too, require much study, both of facts and methods; but the study is not so l:ng and laborious, nor are we so likely to be led astray. With a proper study of the facts of Church history will come a profound sympa- No young thy for the people and the truths of their religion. man who is worthy of going on a mission can read the story of the "Mormons" without being deeply moved. With this sympathetic knowledge must come a power of

telling these facts, which ordinarily comes in no other way. There