Produced by Free Elf, Diane Monico, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net A frank discussion of the "rights" of missionaries Have We No Rights? Mabel Williamson China Inland Mission Overseas Missionary Fellowship Moody Press Chicago Copyright (C), 1957, by THE MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO Reprinted, 1973 _Printed in the United States of America_ _Contents_ CHAPTER PAGE 1. Rights 7 2. The Right to What I Consider a Normal Standard of Living 11 3. The Right to the Ordinary Safeguards of Good Health 23 4. The Right to Regulate My Private Affairs As I Wish 33 5. The Right to Privacy 39 6. The Right to My Own Time 47 7. The Right to a Normal Romance, If Any 55 8. The Right to a Normal Home Life 67 9. The Right to Live With the People of My Choice 81 10. The Right to Feel Superior 91 11. The Right to Run Things 103 12. He Had No Rights 125 NOTE: Most of the Scripture quotations have been taken from the American Standard Version. CHAPTER 1 _Rights_ "Well," said mother, setting down a cup she had just wiped, and picking up another, "the older I get, and the older my children get, the more I realize how little right a person has even to her own children. By the time they get--well--into high school they aren't yours any more." "But, Mother," I protested, dropping a dripping dishcloth into the dishpan and looking at her in amazement, "of course we are yours! Whose else would we be?" There was silence for a moment. Then, "You--you belong to yourselves," she said quietly. America--the land of freedom and opportunity! The land where everyone's rights are respected! The land where the son of a shiftless drunkard can grit his teeth and say, "I'm going to be rich and famous some day!" Here in America we pride ourselves on the fact that everyone has the right to live his own life as he pleases--provided, that is, that he does not infringe upon the rights of someone else. Rights--your rights; my rights. Just what are rights, anyway? * * * * * A group of half a dozen missionaries were gathered for prayer in a simply furnished living room of a mission house in China. For a few minutes one of the group spoke to us out of his heart, and I shall never forget the gist of what he said.