Morning Calm v.19 no.117(1908 Jul.)

The Bishop's Letters.Ⅰ.

S. JOHN THE DIVINE VICARAGE, - 125 VASSALL ROAD, BRIXTON, S.W.

MY DEAR FRIENDS,

My letters have been unwritten this quarter, but I will put into three letters, as usual, what I have to say to you this quarter. There is a great deal to say, and I will begin with an account of my journey home, which may be of interest to some of you. I determined this year, as it was necessary for me to come home to England, and I wished to waste as little time as possible on the journey, to travel by the Siberian route. I left Seoul on the morning of April 30 and arrived in London on the morning of May 21, having spent seventeen days in travelling, three days in Moscow, and one in Antung. Mr. Trollope came with me for some miles on my way the first day, to talk over any matters that had been left to the last, and he left me at Hwang-ju to return to Seoul. I grieve to say that I thoughtlessly carried on all the food we had provided for the day's journey, and he returned to Seoul weary and hungry about midnight, while I, with all the supplies, had an easy and comfortable journey to Wiju on the Yalu river, and crossed over into Manchuria, sleeping the night at Antung. The Japanese authorities had made arrangements on their lines for my comfort, and I was met at Wiju by their Consul and was taken by him over the Yalu; and I was thankful for his assistance in the darkness and in a town where Coreans were becoming scarce and where Japanese and Chinese were the languages most in use. Our Consul in Antung had also kindly sent to meet me, and I found my way without real difficulty to his house. Finding I had a day to spare, I rested there all next day and left again on May the 2nd for Moukden. This trip takes two days, and it was in some ways the most interesting part of my journey. The line is only a very narrow gauge, built purely for military purposes, and the carriages are not luxurious. The manager of the line had received orders to put a special car at my disposal, and had issued me a pass free of all charge, so that I was fairly comfortable ; but it is not a journey I would recommend to ladies or to any who have to travel in the ordinary cars, which are crowded with Chinese sitting on each other's laps and feet in a car only some four feet wide, like an antiquated tramway-car, only not nearly so good. In winter it would hardly be bearable. As I say, the trip from Antung to Moukden takes two days, and one has to spend the night at a Japanese inn at the half-way station, as travelling at night is impossible. There I had a good meal and a good night's rest, but otherwise I had to depend for my food for the two days on what I had taken from Antung. The journey over the passes of the Motien-ling range was very interesting and in places beautiful. Climbing up and up in zigzags, you see far below you as you cross the head of the pass the valley through which the line continues its course and the valley from which you have come. The views are beautiful, and the hill-sides were then brightened by the wild apricot and pear trees in blossom and the little pink azalea which is so common in Corea. At Moukden, which I reached on Sunday evening about six, we had to drive in Pekin carts to the main line from Port Arthur to Harbin, and as we had two hours to wait I drove to the American Consulate and had some dinner, returning in time to catch the train at 8.30. Our next stop was to be Kwang-chung-tse, where the Japanese and Russian sections of the Great Trunk line meet. I was fortunate in getting into a carriage where I could lie down most of the night, but some friends of mine who had come from Newchwang had to spend the whole night sitting upright; and until the Japanese get their new plant I would warn passengers on that section of the line that they will meet with considerable discomfort and inconvenience. We reached Kwang-chung-tse early in the morning in a furious dust-storm, and had to wait till late in the evening for the Russian train for Harbin. I made friends with a fellow - passenger and we drove to the Russo-Chinese Bank to get some money changed. They asked us to lunch, an invitation we thankfully accepted, and then drove to call on the Presbyterian Mission, where Dr. Gordon is doing splendid work in his new hospital. On returning to the station we found the big Russian train waiting for us, such a relief after the miserable narrowgauge Japanese carriages, and we prepared for a good night's rest on board. We woke up as we approached Harbin, where we had twelve hours to wait for the Vladivostock mail-train, and dispersed to the various hotels for a bath and food, and to set our tickets for the journey to Moscow at the Wagon-Lit Company's offices. Of Harbin I must not say much, but it was a most interesting town in its way, a town being developed from Chinese village into a Western city; here are huge stores with marble or asphalte pavements in front of them, and next door Russian log huts with planks laid down before them, and a little further on Chinese mud huts with mud holes for side walks. All the Russian official buildings, railway, bank or others, are fine substantial houses, and the new town has good streets, and the churches are as usual in a Russian town-even a Russian town in China, as Harbin is a feature of the place; but for a full account of Harbin I would refer you to Putnam Weale's latest book on the Far East. Tuesday evening, May 5, the mail train arrived from Vladivostock, and I found, as I expected, several friends on the look-out for me. Bishop and Mrs. Awdry from Tokyo, Bishop and Mrs. Foss from Kobe, Mr. Walker the chaplain at Shanghai, Mr. Chapman from Osaka, and in all we made up a party of about twenty-five men, women, and children, all more or less known to one another, for the ten days' run from Harbin to Moscow, in addition to thirty-five other passengers. We soon settled down into our cabins, and I found myself in a four-bunk compartment with Bishop Foss and a Russian gentleman with whom we could hold little communication, but who was very kind and helpful so far as his power of understanding our needs went.

Of the journey to Moscow I need say little. It was uneventful except for an accident which might have been serious, but in which no one was hurt fortunately, and which we really enjoyed; for though it meant a delay of six hours, we spent it very pleasantly picnicking in the woods and walking by the shores of Lake Baikal after we had had a short service of thanksgiving for our safe deliverance. The place of the accident was only a few hours from Irkutsk, and they wired to the station to send our train down for us, for there are two main sections of the Siberian line, Moscow to Irkutsk and Irkutsk to Vladivostock, and trains do not run through, but all passengers, East or West, have to change at Irkutsk, and so, luckily, a new train was waiting for us. From the place of the accident we had an interesting run round the southern end of Lake Baikal, and it was beautiful to see the great lake lying in the evening sunlight, a vast expanse of unbroken ice, with snow-covered hills rising behind the dark line of the opposite shore. It must be more beautiful still a few weeks later in the year, when the trees are in leaf and the flowers in blossom; when we were there we could find only a few early anemones. We ran into Irkutsk late at night and saw little of that great new city except its lights, and from that point till we reached Moscow there was nothing of particular interest. The scenery was of much the same character-great stretches of marsh or moorland interspersed with birch and fir woods; but one felt as one saw the richness of the soil what a tremendous future lay before the people of the land when they should arrive in sufficient numbers adequately to develop its natural possibilities as an agricultural and pastoral country. The Russian Government recognises that it must help in this matter of immigration, and we met daily train -load after train-load of men, women, and children being exported to the Far East from Russia proper, five hundred or six hundred in each train, and six or seven trains a day at the least. These people have a free passage given them and food on the way, and a grant of land and money on arrival at their destination, and from what I could gather they are being sent chiefly to the more easterly provinces, especially the Primorsk on the Pacific coast, to supply the much-needed backbone of Russian residents on the Chinese and Corean frontiers. It is difficult to convey to you the idea of vastness impressed upon one by the passage, day after day, across the wide plains of Siberia, or of the possibilities of future development, but we all felt that any man with energy and a little money could do great things there, and that it is impossible to estimate the numbers of those for whom the opportunity is lying waiting. There is room for thousands, or even millions. The question is whether the Russians have men or money enough to develop the land rapidly-as, for instance, is being done in Canada - but that a great future is waiting for the country one cannot doubt. Of the darker side of Siberian life, of which one has heard so much, we saw nothing, and, at any rate in the vicinity of the railway, I doubt if there is much to be seen. From what one heard, great improvements are being made, but they can only be worked out gradually, as honest men can be found to carry them out.

Moscow was reached on May 15. the tenth day from Harbin, and very thankful we were to be in a good bed again, though the sleeping accommodation on the train was far from uncomfortable and the feeding was adequate, if not luxurious. We often bought bread and butter and chickens and eggs at the station and ate them in our own carriage, instead of going into the restaurant car, and, for one meal in the day at any rate, I think many people would find this more comfortable and more economical ; but the meals are not expensive, for 6s. a day will cover all one's needs even in the car. A few tins of jam, me tea and biscuits, a spirit lamp and a good supply of spirit will be found useful, especially if ladies are in the party travelling. Bishop Awdry had a letter of introduction to Bishop Basil of Moscow from Archbishop Nicolai of Tokyo, and we went to present it in person so soon as was possible. He received us most kindly, but as we had a very poor interpreter with us, we were able to understand but little of what he said to us beyond the fact that he welcomed us to Moscow and asked us to attend service on Sunday. It was very unfortunate that we did not understand clearly about this latter point, for we thought he wished us to go to his private chapel, and we went there, whereas he really invited us to go to the Cathedral, and had made all arrangements for us to sit in the "altar " there, as they call the part behind the Ikonostasis or great screen. We were very sorry to have thus missed such an interesting service, but as it was we were thankful to have been present at a service so different in form from our own, but in which one could fully realise, underlying the differences, the oneness of the pleading before God of the one sacrifice once offered for the sins of the world, which unites all, of whatever country and language they may be, whatever form of service they may use; all, that is, who, recognising their own sinfulness and the need of a Saviour, worship the Father who sent His Son into the world to redeem all mankind in the unity of the Spirit, and who offer this worship in the service and sacrament ordained by Christ Himself. It is to us all, indeed, a Holy Communion, whether we are Englishmen, Russians, or Coreans. After this service we were able to go to the English church and take part in the service there with our own people, and in that way, but in that way only, we gained by not having attended at the Cathedral of St. Saviour.

Our spare time in Moscow was spent under the king guidance of friends in seeing the Kremlin, with its churches and palaces, and in visiting Mr. Cazalet at his country house, who a few weeks previously had acted as host to the Bishop of London. Of these things I must not say anything, but it was all extremely interesting, and I hope I may have an opportunity later examining more in detail what we had to see in a great hurry, and also of seeing something more of the life of the old Russian capital. We left on Monday evening and had a rather uncomfortable and tiring three days' journey to England, arriving in London on Thursday, May 21, and I had breakfast with Canon Brooke at Kennington just three weeks from the day I had left Seoul. Six A.M. the Holy Communion in Seoul, April 30 ; 8.30 A.M. in London, May 21. It seems very wonderful that one should be able in so short a time, seventeen days' actual travelling, to do a journey that only a short time ago took six weeks, and though it is certainly not so restful as the sea route, the saving in time is worth a great deal and enabled me to have a few days' rest here in England before the commencement of the Pan-Anglican Congress and the Lambeth Conference. This letter has grown to a great length and I must now turn to other matters.

I am, yours truly, ARTHUR B. TURNER, Bishop.

Ⅱ.

MY DEAR FRIENDS

The second letter I would write to you will be about Mission matters of various kinds. The last four months of my stay in Corea were very full of interest and of work. First of all we prepared to welcome the Reverend Mother on a visit of inspection and Sister Isabel on her return from her furlough. We were delighted to hear the latter was really better, and considered by the doctors able to undertake work again at once if she was careful. What a hateful word that "careful" is! One hears it and uses it so often and no doubt it is necessary, but it is none the less unpleasant to have it constantly dinned into one's ears. We were indeed very thankful to have her back, as there was much work waiting to be done; and we were thankful too that the Reverend Mother should come when she did, as the Sisters Work among the women wanted some rearrangement, which could be made much more easily after she had seen the condition of things and after we had talked things over on the Spot.

The women's work round Seoul and to the south round Souwon, and in the further districts of Pyung-taik and the new station of Chinchon required more help and supervision than Sister Margaretta was able single-banded to give to it, especially as at first she was responsible for the superintendence of the work in Kanghwa city. First it was found necessary that she should give up the work in Kanghwa, and as Sister Rosalie and Sister Cecil were unable to take the responsibility for it, Mrs. Hillary took charge there in addition to her work in the south of the island round Onsoutong. This has given her a very heavy load of responsibility, but it seemed unavoidable.

And when once it was seen to be possible that she could take over all the women's work in the island, we saw that it might be possible to remove the Sisters and bring them nearer Seoul to relieve the pressure there. The possibility of this move had long been in my mind, though I had not thought of making the change so soon; but the Reverend Mother's presence brought things to a crisis, and by now the house in which the catechist, Paul Kim, has been living at Souwon has been enlarged and given over to the Sisters, and there Sister Isabel, with Sister Cecil as her companion and helper, has already gone into residence. They will have charge of the Souwon district, stretching some fifty or sixty miles down the line, and it will give them both plenty of work to teach the women and girls in that long strip of country which threatens to widen itself out to some ten miles on either side of the railway. You will no doubt later receive some account of the new house and its arrangements. This will leave four Sisters at Seoul at present. Sister Nora in charge and Sister Margaretta with supervision of the women's work in and near Seoul and, during Mrs. Weir's furlough, at Chemulpo, and in addition she will visit the station of Chinchon for some weeks at a time as opportunity offers. Sister Edith Helena will go on studying the language and will assist Sister Margaretta as far as she can, while Lay Sister Barbara will remain in charge of the Orphanage and School. This change is very advantageous in many ways, for it brings the Sisters all nearer together and the railway will enable them to keep in touch in a way that has been impossible with the long and uncertain river journey to Kanghwa, and it will enable them more adequately to cope with the work in the district I have mentioned, which is growing very fast and becoming more and more important. The only difficulty is that it adds considerably to the work of Mrs. Hillary in the Island of Kanghwa, and we must do all we can to make some arrangement by which she may be in some measure relieved. I hope you will hear from the Reverend Mother herself some account of her visit and the impression made upon her by what she has seen and heard. She will be back in England before this is in your hands. We cannot say how grateful we are to her for having faced the long journey, and to the Sisters for having spared her for so long. After we had got over the excitement of her arrival, there came another visitor whom we had been anxiously expecting. The Bishop of London had given Mr. Trollope nine months’ leave to come and visit us and to help us through part of the time I am to be in England, and we owe the Bishop and the parishioners of St. Saviour's, Poplar, a hearty vote of thanks for allowing him to leave his important work there to help us in our difficulties. As I told you in the last Magazine, it was impossible for me to leave before Easter, and I was thankful it was so, as it gave me an opportunity of talking over many matters with him before I came away. He was able to visit some of the stations and out-stations with me, and others without me, and to prepare himself to help us with his advice at our Conference after Easter. That Conference was one of the great reasons for delaying my departure, and he gave me invaluable assistance in preparing the agenda and in carrying it out successfully. Many subjects of importance came up for discussion, and we came to many decisions on matters of greater and less importance as regards the future of the Mission; but of these I will say nothing now, for he promises to send an account of the Conference which you will be able to read for yourselves. He will be in Seoul till the end of August, when, I grieve to say, he will have to return to England, and meanwhile I hear he is working very hard -I hope not too hard for his health.

Another task he undertook for me was the printing of the new edition of the Prayer-book, or rather the portion we have ready for printing. It consists of the Offices of Mattins and Evensong, the Litany, and the Holy Communion. We propose to print separately, in the same form, so that they can be bound together if preferred : (1) a selection of the Psalms; (2) the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels; and (3) the Occasional Offices, but these all require further revision and consideration. The first task will be the Occasional Offices, which will be taken in hand at once. The production of this first section of the Prayerbook has been long delayed, chiefly owing I fear to my own dilatoriness in putting it through the press; and it will, of course, be only a small edition, which will need to be again and again revised before we are satisfied with it. We have tried to simplify it and take away some of the more difficult expressions and words used in the former edition, and in some places it is rather more literal; but whether it will prove to be a great advance on the first book, prepared chiefly by Mr. Trollope himself, we shall only know after we have tried it and the Coreans themselves have used it and tested it. The revision has been done, of course, with their help, but they are not for the most part able to give an opinion of much value on literary work in the vernacular. That is not standardised sufficiently yet for any of them to say on sight "this is good" or "that is bad." A literary standard is being formed gradually by the production of books and local newspapers which are being issued freely in the vernacular, but the growth can only be gradual.

Another reason for my not leaving Corea before Easter was that I was anxious to wait till all the candidates for Baptism had received the Sacrament and the adults could be presented for Confirmation. On Refreshment Sunday I went with Mr. Cartwright to Fusan, where I confirmed four Japanese candidates. The growth of the work there is slow, but our members are steady and regular in their attendance to their duties Mr. Iki, our catechist, is not a brilliant man or very strong as an evangelist, but he does his pastoral work steadily and well. On Passion Sunday I went to Souwon and confirmed some forty men and women. The work is growing steadily there, and next year I expect to have at least a hundred candidates presented to me for confirmation on my return to Corea. This year's candidates were mostly from the immediate neighbourhood of Souwon, but there are many men and women waiting in the districts to the south of the city, Pyung-taik and Asan and Chunan, for the final instruction which will enable Mr. Bridle to receive them into the Church in Holy Baptism. Some of them have been Catechumens for two years or more. On Palm Sunday, or rather on the day before, I went up to Kanghwa and expected to confirm the candidates in the city after Baptism on the Sunday, Mr. Hillary had, however, found it advisable to take the Baptisms on the Saturday, and they were all waiting for me, so I immediately vested and confirmed the forty-six men and women who had been baptized Sunday and Monday morning I spent in the city, and in the afternoon we all migrated to Onsoutong, and on Tuesday a hundred candidates were presented and confirmed there. They gathered from all over the south of the island, where the work seems to be in a very satisfactory state. There is a real desire on the part of our members to bring others to the knowledge of the truth, and Mr. Hillary was greatly assisted in the preparation of the candidates by his Corean assistants, paid and voluntary. I have spoken often of Mark Kim, one of our first two baptized members, a Christian of eleven years' standing now. He has been living for some years at Ankol and has gathered a strong body of Christians round him in that neighbourhood. We have often considered the question whether the work there was strong enough to allow us to remove him to one of the places where we wanted an older and more experienced Christian to help to establish new work. We have now decided to do this, though with some fear and

(여기서부터) trembling, and soon he will be living at a place on the mainland of which I have written to you before, called Paik-chun, where there seems to be a great opening for work at present and where there are several hundred inquirers. It is a fairly large town and we have long hesitated, for there is in the neighbourhood a fairly strong work being carried on by the Presbyterians; but our work is developing in a different direction from theirs, and the demand from the Coreans has been so persistent that we have lately paid several visits to the place and definitely occupied it as a sub-station. We have baptized and confirmed one or two members and admitted several more to the Catechumenate, and just before I left Corea we bought a house in the city as a centre for our work there with buildings sufficient for a church to hold some three hundred, for a school, for a catechist's house, and for rooms in which a visiting priest can stay from time to time. Mark Kim's place at Ankol will be taken by Luke Yi, who has for some time been working as a volunteer in Sakol, near OnsouLong, where he has proved himself to be a capable and earnest leader of men. I would ask your prayers for these two men in their new work that they may prove themselves capable of the difficult task before them, that Mark Kim may lay the foundations of the work in Paik-chun firmly and well, and that Luke Vi may take up and carry on Mark's work at Ankol in the same Spirit in which it has been done for the last six years. Mr. Hillary is naturally anxious as he considers the way in which the work is extending, and I hope sincerely that we may receive While I am at home an offer of help from another priest, whom may send down to help him and Mr. Wilson in the oversight of all these men and women who are coming to them for instruction in the Truth, and who depend upon them for pastoral care and sacramental grace.

On Wednesday in Holy Week I went down to Chemulpo for the Baptisms and Confirmations there. Seven women were presented by Mrs. Weir for Baptism, and three lads, two from the hospital and one the son of Eunice the Biblewoman, were confirmed on the Thursday. I spent Good Friday morning and afternoon there, taking a Corean service from 12 to 1, and an English service from 2 to 3, that all might be able to ave some part in the commemoration of our Lord's Passion during those three hours, in addition to the earlier services, and Teached Seoul in the evening so as to be ready for the Baptisms and Confirmations there on Easter Eve. Mr. Gurney had prepared one class in Seoul and was able also to present a few from his country district, so that we had the largest number of