But there is a further objection against this false ideal, on the ground that abroad, in the mission field, it gives rise to a powerful and subtle temptation in some minds, and leads to waste of precious power. In most mission fields the hardness of the hearts of many of the heathen, and the deep sense of isolation from the people which the missionary feels, _and which is inevitable_ from the difference of race, language and habits, are so distressing, that there are few conscientious souls that have not felt, at some time or other, a strong tendency towards an ascetic mode of life: “O! let me do this, let me do that, let me do anything, if I can only come nearer the people.” There is quite enough tendency to this abroad, without its being further stimulated by a demand at home. “But what do you mean by asceticism? Where do you draw the line?” By asceticism I mean the deliberate—sometimes even ostentatious—cutting down of provision as to food, clothing, dwelling, and general comfort, _to a point obviously below the standard of health and efficiency_; this standard being naturally fixed at an approximation to that of the mode of life to which the missionary has previously been accustomed. My own experience of missionary life, extending over nineteen years, is that I have always had to work much harder than if I had been in England, and, whilst the mode of living must needs be very plain and temperate to be healthy, the food must be nourishing, and the surroundings in a fair degree of comfort, or it will soon lead to a collapse. I do not condemn _economy_; God forbid! No one believes in that more than I do. I entertain strong views as to the importance of a _humble, simple, unostentatious manner of life_, and have always practised it. Nor do I wish to state that the missionary has no need of _self-denial_. A man cannot be even a disciple without self-denial. Without it, as a missionary he would be useless; and I may testify, in all simplicity, that I have known what it was to practise it, and have reaped the sweet and precious fruits of it. But if that hymn of Keble’s is true anywhere it is true in the missionary’s life— “The trivial round, the common task, Will furnish all we ought to ask; Room to deny ourselves; a road To bring us, daily, nearer God.”