Morning Calm v.23 no.133(1912 Jul.)

The Bishop's Letter.

MY DEAR FRIENDS, -

I brought my two months' sojourn in Kanghwa and neighbourhood to an end on SS. Philip and James's Day, having used the three weeks since Easter in making one more tour right round the outlying village and island churches, so as to give Easter Communion to our people in each place, and at the same time confirm a few remaining candidates in two or three centres. The country was just at its loveliest, and I felt loath to leave it. But it was high time that I returned to the centre of things in Seoul, before going out to make similar sojourns in Su Won and elsewhere. I feel that I have a rough working knowledge of the Kanghwa district, its people and its circumstances, now, and hope before the year is out to acquire a similar first-hand knowledge of the other districts. As I hoped (and hope) practically to spend all May and June in Seoul and the neighbourhood, I dispatched Fr. Badcock to hold the fort in Kanghwa, with Fr. Weston, until midsummer, thus making myself responsible for the duty in Seoul and Chemulpo. And before leaving the island I was glad to welcome there Miss Packer, who had spent the first month after her arrival in Corea helping Dr. and Mrs. Weir in St. Luke's Hospital, Chemulpo. As Miss Grace Bourne had kindly offered to undertake that work for the next two or three months, I was glad of the opportunity of bringing Miss Packer up to Kanghwa and settling her in there, with Miss Borrowman and Miss France with whom (as she acquires the language) she will share the women's work in the Kanghwa district. My first Sunday (May 5) after leaving Kanghwa was spent in Chemulpo, where we made the great and rather difficult experiment of a united service for Japanese and Coreans in our little Church of St. Michael and All Angels. There were eight Japanese there to be baptised and confirmed, and twenty Coreans, from Chemulpo and a neighbouring island, who had been baptised at Easter, waiting for Confirmation. I should have liked to perform the baptisms myself, but the space near the font was too cramped for such a solemnity, and my power of doing anything in the Japanese language (which is about as much like Corean as English is like French) is so limited that I thought it best to leave that to Fr. Sharpe, who has charge of all the Japanese work, and talks (or seems to me to talk) their language like a native. During the baptisms I sat on my chair in front of the altar, as it were presiding over the ceremony, and as soon as the baptisms were over we proceeded with the Confirmation, partly in Corean and partly in Japanese. (With the aid of a Japanese prayer book printed in “Romaji” - i.e. English type - I was just able to struggle through this.) And immediately after the Confirmation we went on to the Holy Eucharist, which was celebrated by Fr. Sharpe, and in Japanese, and at which I assisted as " pontifically " as was possible under the rather difficult linguistic circumstances and in a chancel which measures precisely twelve feet by eight.

The greater part of the service was in Japanese, but the Holy Gospel was read in Corean, and I gave the Absolution and Blessing in both languages. There was a sprinkling of English people present, too, so the Creed, the Gloria, the Sanctus, &c., were recited by the different members of the congregation in their three different tongues, as was also the case with the Veni Creator, and the few hymns which we were able to join in singing to the same tunes! I dare say you will realise a little how difficult it all is : but I am sure that the effort was worth making and the moral effect good. It was certainly a cheering sight to see a solid phalanx of Japanese wedged in between a crowd of Corean men on one side of the church and Corean women on the other all professing the same faith, all claiming their birthright in the same family of God, all owning the sway of the same Holy Spirit, and all kneeling in front of the same altar, to plead before the Father the merits of the same one full, perfect and all-sufficient sacrifice, offered by the same Saviour for the sins of the whole world. That is all to the good: but in practice it is extraordinarily difficult to circumvent the awkwardness arising from the use of two or more vernaculars in the same service. And one sometimes envies our Roman brethren their simple solution of the difficulty, by using a language, like Latin, which is equally unintelligible to both parties! Certainly when I see the matter of-course way in which our otherwise devout people here will absent themselves from the Eucharist, just because it happens to be celebrated on a given Sunday in a language which is not their own, I am inclined to ask whether we Anglicans are not apt to make a fetish of "worship in the vernacular," and to rate the accidents of worship above its substance. Fortunately, however, the question is not as yet acute, except in centres like Seoul and Chemulpo, where Japanese immigrants most do congregate. But this is one of our real practical puzzles and difficulties, in which we greatly need the guidance of God; and that is why I have dealt with the matter in such detail in writing to you now.

The week following May 5 was given up to a Conference of Clergy gathered in Seoul to discuss certain practical difficulties - chiefly concerned with land tenure, schools, and liturgical translations (All our tentative editions of the Prayer Book, or rather of parts of it, are out of print.) It was an immense pleasure to me to meet them all together again, after the stress of their Lent and Easter duties: though "all" as yet only means nine, three being still absent in England, where we hope they are not being over worked by you. We are hoping, too, that June will bring to us Frs. Chambers and Stanley Smith, to whose arrival we greatly look forward. The sisters, too, are very short-handed, as Sister Edith Helena and Lay Sister Barbara left for their much-needed furlough directly after Easter, as did Sister Cecil after Christmas, leaving us with just two sisters (Sisters Nora and Constance Irene), with Miss E. Ensor to “keep the pot boiling" in Seoul, and a similar staff (Sisters Rosalie and Isabel) and Miss Ensor to do the same in Su Won. You will understand, therefore, that what with my inexperience and these many absentees, this year cannot but be very largely a year of "marking time."

Yours affectionately in Christ, MARK, Bishop in Corea. SEOUL, COREA, SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION, 1912.

The Festival.

The Festival was held, as announced, on May 3. In many ways it was the most inspiriting and encouraging that has been held. There seemed to be a fixed determination among all who took part, whether speakers or listeners, to strengthen the Mission to the fullest extent of their power. The Primus of the Episcopal Church in Scotland in his stirring sermon at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, did his utmost to rally the Church to a sense of her unique opportunity in Corea. It is a matter for satisfaction that his sermon was published in a Church paper which has consistently given prominence to the work of the Mission in recent years, namely The Church Family Newspaper. It is! not necessary to comment at any length on the Festival. The speeches are reported at considerable length on another page. The service at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, was quite the most impressive that has yet been held : and it is probably true, as was stated at the time, that it was the first time since the reformation that four bishops had appeared habited in cope and mitre. In addition to Dr. Robberds, the Bishops of Willesden and Kensington and Bishop Powell were present. The copes were lent by St. Paul's Cathedral.

Notes on the Speeches.

It is perhaps well that emphasis should be given to one or two of the remarks made by the speakers.The Bishop of Southwell was very much concerned at the unfortunate, but British, habit of advertising our shortcomings as a Church. We certainly might omit much of the pessimism with which we regard work we have undertaken abroad, and instead make rather more of what has, under God, been accomplished. It would undoubtedly tend to cheer on the supporters of Foreign Missions did they not always appear to be championing lost causes and forlorn hopes. Rear-Admiral Winnington Ingram was perfectly justified in protesting against the extravagant expenditure of some parishes on the luxuries of their own worship. The money spent in one Church alone in one year on new vestments would support the whole work of the Church in Corea for the same period.

Income.

" The only barometer of Missionary enthusiasm and interest is, after all, the state of the exchequer" - so said Bishop Mounsey at the great S.P.G. Albert Hall Meet in April. This seemed to meet the views of the audience on that occasion. And yet it is not to be thought that the barometer of interest in Corea is falling. The Comparative Statement of income for this year to date and that of last year for the same period shows a decrease for the General Fund of £204 0s. 6d. and a decrease for Special Purposes of £391 8s. Id-Total decrease, £595 8s. 7d. It is much to be hoped that in spite of coal strikes, and many insistent claims upon the purses of Church-people, this deficit will be made good during the next six months, or at any rate not increased.

Resignations.

After many years as Treasurer of the Mission-in fact as many as the age of the Mission itself-Mr. Radcliffe has resigned his position. In the early days, when there were no official books of the Mission, Mr. Radcliffe kindly allowed all the monies contributed to the work to pass through the books of his firm. This is no longer necessary, since the Organising Secretary keeps a complete record of all accounts. Mr. Radcliffe has not found it possible, owing to his busy life, to attend the meetings of the Executive Committee and he has therefore resigned. We cannot be too sensible of the great debt that we owe to him for his interest in and work for the Mission for these many years. Two other names, long familiar to the friends of the Mission, disappear at their own request from the list of the member of the Central Committee Miss Chambers-Hodgetts, sometime Hon. Sec. A. P. W., and Rev. W. Dawson. We are sorry to lose them, but fully recognise that distance from London alone prevents them from taking a morejactive part in the work.

The Boxes.

Nearly 100 Corean Hat-Collecting Boxes have been taken-the majority paid for by the holders, so that the expenses of their manufacture will not fall upon the funds of the Mission. The Rev. W. N. Gurney has advertised them well at the many places in which he has so readily gone to speak about his experiences in Corea.

A Real Need.

The Rev. G. A. Bridle asks, in the "Wants" column, for a large chalice and paten for use at St. Stephen's, Su Won. The Organising Secretary will be glad to hear from anyone who would like to supply this very real and urgent need for the growing congregation at St. Stephen's.

Owing to lack of space the Editor regrets that he must hold over some communications sent from Corea for the present.

Students who desire to enrol their names for the Vacation Course for missionary preparation at Oxford from August 3 to 31. are requested to send them as soon as possible to the Secretary of the Board of Study, the Rev. H. U. Weitbrecht, Ph. D., D.D., 33 Onslow Gardens, Muswell Hill, London, N, so as to facilitate the arrangements which have to be made beforehand for the division of the classes. St. Michael and All Angels, Bromley-by-Bow, London, E., will again be holding their Sale of Work for Corea, November 6 and 7. Any contributions or overstock of previous Sales of Work will be most thankfully received by the Local Secretary, Miss Brooksmith, 62 Teviot Street, Poplar, E. Will anyone devoted to missionary work kindly offer to open the Sale?

The festival.

MEETING AT TREVELYAN HALL BISHOP OF SOUTHWELL'S ADDRESS

THE BISHOP OF SOUTHWELL, presiding at the meeting in the Trevelyan Hall, Westminster, said he took it that their meeting was just a little preliminary canter for the great meeting on the following day. He noticed there was still existing among those present the spirit of that great enthusiastic meeting which was held when the present bishop was sent forth from England. He would like to say it was a real pleasure to him, as a home bishop, to be called upon to take part in a meeting of this description, to come out, a little while, of home mission work, and to catch afresh a little of the missionary spirit in the Church across the waters. He knew no mission that was likely to inspire people more than this one. Multitudes were pressing into the Church - such as are being saved. As it was in the early days, so to-day, they were dealing with a work which is a great witness to the world that the power of the Holy Spirit is not spent, and if only men and women at home were filled with the same faith as those across the waters they would see that God was with His faithful Church. In Corea, they were dealing with a country which is a marvellous witness power of the Holy Spirit. He was right in saying that this was not only s) in their own part of the Church - it was the same in connection with other Christian bodies at work. There was an extraordinary movement of Coreans towards Christianity: and really at the present moment their great concern was to do just what our Church people were doing, viz. showing great care with regard to these new converts - not rushing great masses of them into the fold of the Church, but trying to digest the converts, so to speak, so that they might be really taught and built up in the Faith. The Corean Mission was teaching them at home a great lesson in this matter, bidding them remember that the work of the future building up of the converts is a great and vital part of the Church's work. "It stands to reason," said the Bishop," that if you have taught a catechumen and trained in you have not on converted Christian, you have got a missionary, and the real thing we have to consider in our mission work is not the creation of converts, but the taking care that those converts are really native missionaries." "Let me also say this: I think the work of this mission is valuable in another way. Englishmen all over the world are always fond of making manifest their weakness or their failures. I think it is about time we, in the Church of England, ceased to be always telling people about our weak spots, unless we speak with tremendous emphasis of the power of God to use weakness and to make weak agents do wonderful work for Him. In many parts of the Church to-day it is wonderful what work little bands of men and women are doing in bearing witness to the power of God in the mission-field. Sometimes it is advisable not to be pointing out our weakness but to show what marvellous things can be done with the small things that lie to our hands. It is so with regard to the marvellous mission in Corea. It is a noble and blessed work that is being done there. "One word more, there are great problems in the mission-field about which the missionaries will speak, but about which I am ignorant in England. But we have this common experience : my diocese there is a little country village where the people were quite happy and content with things as they were, and did not want to be interfered with. Suddenly coal is discovered there, and in come 2500 colliers; the old village people do not like it. ‘We wish they would go away.’ You see my illustration. The Coreans wished to be left to themselves, but in come the Japanese like a flood. And one of the interesting points is the work of the Church in connection with the Japanese as they pour into the country, all that is being done to hold those who have been connected with our Church, and to welcome them into that country so that they may feel at once one of their great works is not merely to govern and control the country, but to assist in preaching Christianity in that country which they have taken possession of. I do say this, with no false ring in what I say, that this report which I have received to-day is one of the most interesting reports I have read - so modest, so sound, and so hopeful; so filled with joy that at the close of our anxious times there should have been such a victory all along the line, such a determination to carry the flag forward. It is just that which is such a help in connection with our missionary work, and I do congratulate those connected with the Corean mission upon the splendid report-the sound report -the interesting report-issued for this general meeting." The Bishop then called upon the Rev. W. M. Gurney, who left Corea on furlough three months ago. REV. W. M. GURNEY, COREA AND HER GREAT NEIGHBOURS. Mr. Gurney delivered a very interesting and useful address, touching in turn on all the features of the work in Corea. " Corea has ceased to have any political importance whatever, but there were possibilities about the place and the work of a very extraordinary kind. Here was an extremely ancient nation which had been an independent (nominally) for 4000 years. One feels inclined to ask for what purpose had God raised up this nation, if it is now going out. The answer seemed to be this: That God has preserved Corea and given a separate character to its inhabitants in order that they might win over to Christianity the Far East. The Coreans are a people who, with the exception perhaps of Uganda and some parts of India, have absorbed Christianity in a way not paralleled in any other part of the world. It is very possible that during the lifetime of some now living the Coreans may become practically a Christian nation. That could not be said of any other part of the mission-field. It was very much easier to get Corean than Chinese or Japanese converts. The proportion of Corean converts to Japanese was not less than a hundred to one, and they felt that the Coreans, who had before brought religion to Japan and China, would be able to interpret Christianity to them far better than Europeans. They could present it to Japanese and Chinese from the Oriental point of view. The English Church, which was the only Mission from England, had at the present time about 4000 Corean Christians. Besides these 4000 baptised members we have about 6000 catechumens and inquirers; so that there are perhaps some 10,000 people in connection with our Mission, of whom some 4000 only were baptised members." In conclusion, Mr. Gurney dwelt upon the great possibilities of Corea through its power to influence Japanese and Chinese religious thought and to interpret Christianity to them, playing a great part in bringing about the reunion of Christendom. Rev. CHARLES MOORE, R.N., spoke of the great admiration that was felt among naval officers in the Far East for the work of the Corean Mission. He should never forget hearing, when he was out at the China station, of a body of men who had left their homes and their kindred, had perhaps left careers in England of great promise, to go to that remote part of the earth to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people there. That body of men won the hearts of the naval officers and aroused their admiration for foreign missions. The mission staff in Corea, and Bishop Corfe's name, were always mentioned by the naval officers of the squadron with the greatest affection and love. Mr. Moore related a number of instances of the devotion of the missionaries in Corea to their work, and of the good effect of that devotion on the people in earning their gratitude and respect for the Mission's work.

WORK AMONG THE JAPANESE.

Miss VIOLET GROSJEAN gave some particulars of the progress of mission work among the Japanese. She asked them to give those engaged in that work their sympathy in the widest and most practical sense of the word, and she asked them in the same of the Divine Master to enlarge their hearts and take in the Japanese. The Japanese were in Corea, and, as Christians, we must regard them as our brothers. She hoped to bring the mission work among the Japanese before them in such a way that in future they would be just as enthusiastic about that part of their work as about other parts. She told of several interesting cases of Japanese individuals and families becoming faithful members of the Church.

One of their difficulties was that the Japanese in Corea often moved on: and just perhaps when they were well advanced in their instruction went back to Japan, and they had to be passed on to some one else. Their work among the Japanese was slow work, but it was bearing fruit. She insisted strongly that they must not regard the work among the Japanese as less important than that among the Coreans, though it was not likely to lead to such immediate good results. Really they had nothing to do with results. The Japanese were, as a matter of fact, acknowledging their need of a religion. "And so," Miss Grosjean concluded, "I do implore you to do your utmost to help to draw us all together, and pray for us that we may have a right judgment in all things, so that we may not swerve in our determination to give these people that which alone can satisfy them - the religion of the one God."

DR. ROBERTSON ANDERSON ON WOMEN'S WORK AND MEDICAL MISSIONS.

Dr. ROBERTSON ANDERSON delivered an eloquent and very stimulating address on the Medical Mission aspect of the work. Speaking of the Annual Report, he said he only got it at 11 o'clock that day, and he read it in the railway train. There were several things in it to which he wished to draw attention. There was the striking part played by the Corean women in the work of the Mission. He referred to the degraded condition of Corean women before Christianity was introduced among them. Among the Coreans the position of women was similar to that which they had among Moslems in Islam. Women had no rights, woman was a nobody excepting as a worker, and the means of propagating the race. Women were despised in Corea, there was no name given to a woman. This was how a Corean would talk of his wife – “What do you call her," "You know her," or "she." Thank God, wherever Christ was entering into Corea the worth of woman was being recognised, and the status of woman was being raised, as Christ's Gospel had always raised her, to the position that God meant her to occupy. He called attention to that point for the simple reason that most of the audience present that evening were women, and if they wanted work done, either at the home base or in the mission-field, done earnestly and well, women would do it. “They put us to shame," he said with energy," by their earnestness and their self-sacrifice." With regard to the Medical Mission aspect he should have liked to have spoken at length, but he should hope to get an opportunity of doing so on the following afternoon. He wished to draw attention to this: One of the speakers, their missionary friend from Corea, had told them how he looked forward to and hoped for the time when Corea might be, in the hands of God, the means of winning China and Japan to Christ. Corea, indeed, was likely to prove a buffer state between these two great empires in regard to religion, just as Palestine was a buffer state between Egypt and Assyria and Babylon in ancient days. The Medical Mission work in Corea was small, but it was a real work, and it brought to the Coreans just what they needed. The great need among these people was love. Remember this, that unselfish love was a thing practically unknown among them who had not been brought to the things of Christ-in fact, there was no such word as "love" in the Corean language. When they talked of love, as showed in the life of Jesus Christ, they were talking of what the Medical Missions were manifesting. They were manifesting the love of Christ in healing the sick, cleansing the leper, giving sight to the blind, releasing the prisoner. The Medical Missions were love in action, and he wished to make a strong appeal on behalf of that work.

ANNUAL MEETING IN THE HOLBORN HALL.

The Bishop of London presided at the Annual General Meeting at the Holborn Hall on Friday afternoon, May 3. There was a fair attendance. The BISHOP said he would reserve his remarks until the others had spoken. He read a long letter from Bishop Trollope regarding the present position of the work. Mr. GURNEY said the Bishop of Southwell had on the previous evening stated that they, in the Church of England, must not be always talking about the things they so often were talking about, viz. their deficiencies. They must look at the other side of things and talk about what they were doing - not at what they were not doing. The work in Corea was so hopeful that he could not think how anyone could be depressed about it. At that delightful and glorious Eucharist, at which some of them were able to be present at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, that morning, the Primus of Scotland advised them to launch out into the deep"—that was what they were hoping to do. They began near the shore. Bishop Corte was very careful, he had to go very slowly and, as they had beard, his first baptism was not until 1897, seven years after the Mission had begun. They saw how carefully the foundations had been laid. They had now, fifteen years after the first baptism, upwards of a thousand communicants in that very place. They were now beginning to launch out; indeed they were extending their sphere of work enormously. People often asked him what sort of folk the Coreans were ; that was a very difficult question to answer, because there are all sorts. The good characteristics of these people were lovableness, reverence, gentleness, and so on. They had lost their country, politically, possibly for their eternal good. They had lost it to Japan, and if one asked what religion there was in Corea outside the Christain missions, the reply was there was practically none. Mr. Gurney gave some interesting illustrations of various characteristics of the Corean people. One of the things, which at present they regarded as of the greatest importance, was the training of the native clergy. There was going to be a strong native Church in Corea. They were looking forward to the time when its influence would be felt not only among the Coreans but also among the Chinese and the Japanese; and they were still more looking forward to the influence which Corea might exert in promoting the reunion of Christendom in the Far East. If the Catholic members of the Church of England in Corea did their work faithfully they might be the means of bringing Coreans and Russians and Protestants together in a great reunion of Christendom, to which they were all looking forward with such earnestness and zeal. In the course of his address Mr. Gurney, speaking of the great courtesy of the Coreans in addressing their elders, especially in the family, said that a younger brother will never refer to an elder brother by name, but will speak of him as "my honourable elder brother." The chairman, when Mr. Gurney sat down, said he would now call on his "honourable elder brother, “only," the Bishop added, " he is only just a little older than I am." "You are going, the Bishop said, "to listen to a man who has backed up the missionary cause all over the world." Rear-Admiral WINNINGTON INGRAM said his brother had rather cut him out. He was going to begin with "honourable brother." He was a naval officer who had always taken an interest in foreign missions. He recalled a story which illustrated the attitude which many people in the Far East and elsewhere took up towards foreign missions. The story was of a missionary who built his small and very modest home near his new church. It was at a station in Japan. The critics of missions predicted that when the mission grew and prospered the church would remain the same but the home would be enlarged. But years afterwards - the first date in his recollection in this connection was 1872 - it was seen that a much larger and finer church had been built, but the missionary’s house remained as before. It was a great mistake to suppose that the present naval officer was against foreign missions. When he was on the Australian station the officers had an extremely high opinion of foreign missions, as illustrated by the work of the Melanesian mission. Speaking of Christian work among the Chinese, the speaker said he had been immensely interested in the progress of missions among these people, and what had struck him tremendously was the change which came over the converts. The face of the Chinese convert was absolutely different in its expression from that of the heathen. He remembered once seeing a Chinaman in a shop in Shanghai. There was something about the man's face that attracted him, viz. its calm cheerfulness, and he said to him: "You belong to the Jesus religion," and it was so. "I picked him out by his face." Too much was, he thought, spent upon church luxuries at home, and not enough upon the work at the front. But that work must go on. They had shaken the faiths of the people in the East, and they must give them something in place of their old religions. Mr. H. W. HILL, Secretary of the English Church Union, said they all recognised the greatly increased interest and enthusiasm throughout the Church in foreign missions. But they were there that day to plead the cause of a particular mission, and he wanted to put before them a few reasons why that particular mission had very strong claims on their support. Corea had been called the buffer state of the Far East, standing as it did between the Chinese and the Japanese civilisations. From its present circumstances, and the political changes in the Far East, it was bound to be developed and opened up, as we say, by Japan. And that means, in regard to government, development in commerce, and everything which we think of in the Western World as good, that these things will be developed in Corea under Japanese influences. But do we not see that such developments, unless they are influenced by Christian considerations, would mean very likely that the last state of the people, so developed, would be worse than the first? It was of the utmost importance, therefore, that Corea should be permeated with Christianity before she is seized with this material Western civilisation. We have been receiving some severe lessons here in England lately, and a great many people are beginning to ask whether we have been putting first things first, whether we have not been nourishing vain ideals in the last two generations. The talk has been in a great many quarters: Educate the people, give the people good, sound, secular knowledge, give them political freedom, and all will go well. Is it going well? Have we not disregarded God in too many of our affairs? Have we not failed to realise fully the responsibility which rests upon us, as a nation, of seeing that in our thirst for commercial position we do our duty in seeing that these people have Christianity planted among them? That is our clear duty. Practically, Mr. Gurney had showed that the Coreans had no religion-no shelter against materialism nothing but a veiled form of Confucian philosophy-no worship None the less, we can see quite plainly that the ground is good to work on. We have to present Christianity to the Coreans as a finished and perfect revelation the sum and crown of all religions that which will enable a Chinaman to be distinguished by his disposition and happy looks - that which will prevent the people from falling deeper and deeper into Western vices, and will help them to be redeemed from their own. Dr. ANDERSON ROBERTSON said: "I want to take you back some 1800 years. I want to take you, in the spirit, to a little hill country a country which really in many respects had served as a buffer state between two great nations for hundreds of years, but was then possessed by the foreigner. I want you to go about from Village to village. We hear of a great Prophet that has come upon the earth, and the people tell what wonderful deeds He has done, and how the Spirit of the Lord is upon Him because the Lord hath called Him to give liberty to the captive, and to men and women, bound body and soul in sin - to open the eyes of the blind, to comfort all those that mourn. And we hear that that great Prophet is in Jerusalem, and we go there, and we learn that this Prophet is not only the Redeemer of the soul, but is the Saviour of the body; that He recognises that all suffering and all misery has its origin in sin, and that the soul must be redeemed before the body can be redeemed and saved and healed. Then we go to the Pool of Bethesda, and we see the same great Prophet and great Physician whom we had seen before, and He heals a man. And now I want to take you to another hill country that, like Judea, had been a buffer state for centuries betwixt China and Japan, and yet a hill country that had influenced Japan so much that near the end of the sixth century it had given it the religions of Buddhism and Confucianism, and had given it all the zeal and culture possessed by it for centuries. And as you and I visit that land in spirit to-day, we find that, like Judea in the time of our Lord, it is in the hands of the foreigner. We go about from village to village, from town to town here and there, and we find that God has visited this land; that men and women are working in it to reveal Christ, the great Physician, healing the bodies and saving the souls, and we cannot help thinking of the position of Judea in the time of our Lord, and remembering that band that went out to conquer the Roman Empire and conquered it. And we believe in the infinite Providence of God that if this country and other Christian countries will support Corea and will do their duty by it, and that if more men of influence will go out, that we shall win Corea and through Corea we shall win Japan for Christ. "Listen to this voice from Chemulpo, where there is a hospital supported partly by the Royal Navy and partly by S.P.C.K. and by S.P.G. There is the doctor and his wife - the wife trained to nurse, one trained nurse, one qualified dispenser, and several evangelists. You heard the voice last night from Chemulpo telling you of some wonderful forces in the hospital. Let me give you another. Peter Pak came to this hospital a little over two years ago, with a hopeless disease of one foot. He was taken in, and the doctor tried to save the foot. It was hopeless, and ultimately it had to be amputated. While that man was in the hospital he saw there Christ lived, he saw the great Physician in the ministry of healing carried on by the doctor and the nurse and all the evangelists there. He heard the word of the Gospel. The operation was performed, he recovered and went to his home, but he carried in his heart and soul the seeds of everlasting life. He limped to the hospital to every service, he came to the classes, he brought his wife and his child, and recently they have been baptised and are now humble, faithful Christians. The voice of the ‘Christ from the little hospital on the hill.' Listen to this voice from Chin-Chun. The doctor is writing: 'We are getting at the hearts of the people and winning them through the ministry of healing. Though the Japanese Government place a Japanese dispensary wherever a Christian dispensary is placed, or a hospital immediately over the way, yet, strange to say, the people come to us. Wherever there is a Christian hospital they come to it, and refuse to go to the Japanese hospital. Why? Because in the Christian hospital they see Christ revealed, they hear the Gospel of Christ, they see the lives of missionaries, the healing, love, and self-sacrifice and service, and they come to us in preference. We do not fear opposition.' Listen to a voice from Paik-Chun, that of Dr. Nancy Borrow; writing four weeks ago, she said: 'I am the first doctor that has ever been here, and there is no hospital, no equipment. We will just have a little Corean house in which to begin the work of love and mercy.' What a disgrace it is to Christians of this country to send women out there without hospital, without equipment; to plant her down to work where there are thousands of women and children, dying, diseased, miserable, suffering. She has the spirit of Christ out there working single-handed. We have not got a hospital to give her. Give her a hospital and two nurses before two years are over. "If you go where there are few towns and villages among the Corean suffering poor, what do you find? A condition of medicine and surgery that has existed for 4000 years, and is not worthy of the name. The doctors are called and offered money, and because they do it merely for money God has never blessed them and never given them enlightenment. They divide diseases into two kinds, which we should call acute and chronic. The acute they call 'desperate cases,’ the chronic 'great weakness.’ They treat the acute cases by puncture with dirty needles, and in nine cases out often they kill their patients. I want you to help to relieve them, to give them the glorious healing power, the healing of Jesus Christ. You remember when Isaiah predicted the coming of God: ‘Your God will come and save you,’ and that the evidence of His presence was to be miracles of healing: ‘Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.’ And so God is visiting Corea to-day, in the priests, doctors, nurses, evangelists, too few for the work. Now let me just appeal to you for five minutes. When you and I join, as many of us joined to-day, in the highest and most solemn service of praise and thanksgiving at the altar, we heard from the altar what are called 'The Comfortable Words,' 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,' and we accept those words. "But we must not forget that, in order that the soul may be saved, he must be brought to Christ. We must not forget that we have been brought to Christ in baptism, in confirmation, in the Blessed Sacrament, in the environment of Christian homes and a Christian land. And we must not forget that heathens have to be brought to Christ to be saved. And then we listen to the words of exhortation, 'Lift up your hearts,' and in response we say: 'We lift them up unto the Lord.' Which heart, think you, comes closest to the throne of God? - the heart of the man who is selfishly satisfied with his own salvation, or the one who is hungering after work for the salvation of others? And then we say: ‘Let us give thanks to our Lord God. It is meet and right so to do.’ How best shall we offer thanks to God if it be not by joining, as God's workers with Christ, in nothing less than the redemption of mankind? Then we take part in that glorious Trisagion; we take part with Isaiah when he had that wonderful vision of God, and we hear the seraphim sing in that vision where Isaiah heard God's call and accepted it, and like Isaiah we hear the call of God; we hear it in our vision and in the Blessed Sacrament wherein we are made one with Christ and Christ with us. And then we, like Isaiah, hear the call of God when we say: ‘Here we offer ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy sacrifice.’ Then we do as Isaiah did when he said: "Whom shall I send, and who will go up for us?’ And we respond: ‘Here am I, send me.' Just one word more you and I join in prayer, the highest, the best and the commonest everyday prayer; we join in the Lord's Prayer, we repeat the words 'Thy kingdom come.’ How many of us mean it? Do we realise that if God's kingdom is to come WE must bring it? God has meant that through men and women the world shall be won; through the Man-Christ Jesus the was redeemed, and our Lord gives to you and me, men and women, flesh and blood, the one influence of Christ, and if we do not use it, God help us. The call is an ever-recurring one, and is made every time we say the words 'We offer and present ourselves,' if we are in earnest, and if we are not we had better not repeat them. How many of us are doing it? Just a word: I want you to think seriously and compare what our dear Church is doing as compared with other Churches. Quite recently an appeal was issued by the United Free Church of Scotland - a Church, I suppose, having about 100th part of the number of members of the Church of England- for seventy missionaries. The missions have been provided within the last few months and the missionaries are ready to go. Ought we not to blush for shame? The Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak has been calling for men for several years, and he cannot get them. The Bishop of Corea is calling out for men and women and money. It is strange that Christ should make the advancement of His kingdom dependent on money. but He does. You cannot all go out, but you can all give of your own means. God has chosen you, and you can give Him simply what you can, making it an offering of sacrifice and giving your service, and if you do that God will bless the giver and the gift. The quality of mercy is not strained, It droppeth as the gentle dew from heaven Upon the earth beneath. It is twice blessed, It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes. “It is all very well for us in this country to have beautiful churches, beautiful altar-cloths, and splendid choirs; these are not essentials, although it is delightful to have them. They would be an offering acceptable to Almighty God, but if we spend money upon ourselves simply that we may enjoy fine services, that we may have services that appeal to us, and neglect the greater duty, what will it do for us when we stand before the Judgment Seat of God? Remember the test I gave last night; the test is 'Love God, mercy, self-sacrifice.’ ‘Come ye blessed of my Father.’ ‘I was hungry and ye fed me, I was sick and in prison and ye came to me.’" The BISHOP OF LONDON said: "I do not intend to speak at length. I recognise when a meeting has had enough of good things. I do feel now that we ought to be left for a few moments to carry in our hearts and consciences that ringing, true appeal which has just been made to us. I should like, as Bishop, to endorse every word that the last speaker has said. I feel very strongly what be has said about our organs and altar-cloths; we must have things in due proportion. And I endorse also what my brother has said about our Church being a missionary Church, and that if she is not a missionary Church she dies. "There are several points in my own mind that I wish to put before you. The first point is this: We must keep the promises we made to Bishop Trollope before he went out, not to let him languish out there alone and forgotten. We must let him know that there is a warm feeling for him at home, and that a large body of people are at his back, pledged to send him the men and money he needs. That is the first thing we have to do. "This is really the secret of those missionary journeys of mine which are sometimes criticised in the Press. When I am told I am holiday-making while Rome is burning, or while you are going over to Rome, I forgot which it is, I sometimes stay in my own mind, How would they like to have a holiday such as I have had, when I have given up my summer holiday for forty-six sermons in forty days? I have done this twice on the other side of the Atlantic. I cannot hope to keep my diocese missionary unless I am a missionary myself. If I go off for my summer holiday and enjoy myself - as I too, with the flesh, like to do when I am tired and will not give anything of it for other people, I cannot expect my diocese to do it. And those dear brother bishops working overseas like to feel they have got their brother bishops at the back of them, and also a loving, praying, generous Church. "The next thing I want to leave with you, which has been impressed on me by other speakers, is that the Mission in Corea occupies a real strategic point in missionary work in the Church, I feel sure of it. We have to concentrate our efforts upon a certain point, that from that point we may go forth and convert the world. No one can possibly have heard what has been said so clearly without realising that the little Mission has got its finger on a point that is going to move the world. Therefore I want all of you to realise that if we are firm and strong and earnest in holding on to Corea, we shall be able to move China and Japan. "Then I want to endorse what has been said about the really extraordinary influence of Medical Missions. I have found that it is (next to that of Mr. Cook, who reigns supreme in the Near East and whose name is more important even than that of Lord Cromer. ‘I don't know you,' some one said to Lord Cromer at an hotel, ‘but if you are a friend of Mr. Cook, we shall be glad to have you here!') Next to Mr. Cook, it is the medical missionary who rules the Near East. I found in every place I called at during my recent tour, the medical missionary. He was at the hospital on the spot, and if I had time I might have illustrated what I have said about his great influence. At Cairo, people will only go to the British hospital, though there is an Egyptian one close to it. Everyone in Egypt knows the influence of the medical missionary. "My last words this afternoon are; We are on our mettle as Church people. Do we believe in our Church principles or not? I was not discouraged to find that the Americans had five times the number of Medical Missions throughout the Near East that we have. All honour to them. We are not going to depreciate them; do not think so; they show the greatest generosity and kindness. But at the same time do we believe in the special contribution to Christianity our Church can make? I believe myself we are the people to become the healers of the breaches of Christendom, as Bishop Lightfoot said at a Church Congress-the Church of England ‘with her unbroken ministry in one hand and the open Book in the other.’ If we can only firmly believe in the position and powers of our Church, we might be just the stone needed to complete the arch that should hold the world." The Bishop closed the meeting with the Benediction

Association of Prayer and Work for Corea.

MAY I begin by asking secretaries to be more punctual in sending in their quarterly returns? Reports should reach county secretaries not later than the first day of the months of February, June, September, and December. This will ensure all reports reaching the General Secretary by the sixth of the month, and, if this date could be adhered to, it would be an immense saving of trouble to myself, and would prevent unnecessary delay in sending reports to the Editor of MORNING CALM. I am most grateful to the secretaries who are always punctual, and hope that others (chiefly those who send through county secretaries) will forgive the reminder, and be good enough to forward their returns on the date specified on the quarterly papers. The last quarter has seen the beginning of three new A.P.W. branches. Mrs. Napier Trollope, having left Putney, is starting a branch at Earl's Court, and becomes local secretary for that centre. Miss Effie Stephenson, as local secretary for West Hartlepool, has already several members, and it is hoped that in this parish, where a Missionary Union already exists, many others (and among them some of the children who already work for Corea) will be glad to promise their daily intercessions for all foreign missions, and especially for Corea. Our third new centre is in Dublin, and this we owe to Miss Clare Whitty, a member of the Birmingham branch, who has shown her zeal for Corea and A.P.W. by volunteering to do what she can in Ireland, where until now there has been no A.P.W. centre. This is a most welcome move, and it is hoped that if any who read this have friends in the neighbourhood of Dublin, who might help on the work of A.P.W., they will let Miss Whitty know. Birmingham must be proud to have a daughter branch during the first year of her existence; we hope that she will have many others as time goes on, and that the example of Birmingham will be followed elsewhere. There is promise of another new branch at Hanworth, Middlesex, which I hope to speak of later. Miss Marsack has kindly undertaken to be Local Secretary in Tunbridge Wells in the place of Mrs. Fox, and the Rev. J. C. F. Grosjean succeeds Mrs. Napier Trollope at Putney. Both these secretaries have our sincere thanks and best wishes. We have been greatly strengthened lately in our work by the presence among us of the Rev. W. N. Gurney, whose kindness in speaking at meetings, &c., I rather fear to mention, knowing that his Bishop will read this, and will probably censure us for making use of him whilst on furlough. I think I can honestly say, however, that A.P.W. has worked Mr. Gurney rather reluctantly. However that may be, we are more than grateful to him for the help he has given us in Bath, Bristol, Stoke-by-Nayland, Hovingham, and probably in other places as well, and we hope that those who heard him will show their gratitude by an increase of prayer and work for Corea. As I write I am feeling somewhat anxious about A.P.W., as our receipts for the past three months are much less than they were for the same quarter last year. I hope this is partly accounted for by the unpunctuality referred to above. Let us remember the splendid response made last July to the appeal for more prayer and work, and strive to maintain the level we reached then. We are steadily growing in numbers, and if side by side with this growth there is an increase in the reality of our membership, surely there is no limit to the work which we may be able to accomplish. Wonderful opportunities lie before the Church in Corea, but they cannot be made full use of without effort' and self-sacrifice on the part of each member of A.P.W. MAUD I. FALWASSER, General Secretary, P.S. -The Needlework Secretary will be glad if those members of A.P.W. who have kindly made garments for Corea will send them to her not later than August 1.

Children's branch.

DEAR CHILDREN, - Our Annual Festival has come and gone and, though I have not heard of any, I hope some of you children were able to have a Service of Intercession or, at all events, remembered the day in your prayers. Now you will be able to see a good picture of our little friends in Corea at the Orphanage. Sister Barbara-who you will see standing on the left in the picture with a little baby, Dora by name, in her arms - is home now for her holiday, and has lent me some photos and told me about the children. So now we can get to know more about them, and now is the opportunity for Sister Barbara to speak to you children, as she kindly did at Battersea, or for you to write to me, and ask me anything you want to know about the children. She has all sorts of funny and interesting things that the Coreans use, and things made by the orphans, which thoroughly delighted the children at Battersea. One little boy was dressed in the Corean winter hat, which looked very snug and warm; but the boys decided they would not like to be dressed as the Coreans, as the things would take too long to put on. The result of the evening was that the children are going to collect to help pay for Bertha's food, the other little baby in arms that you will see in the picture. The two bigger children standing at the back are Eva and Rhoda; the three on the balcony Ain, Margaret, Georgie; the three next to Sister Barbara are Agatha, Dinah, Susannah; and the three sitting down are Rebecca, Luini, and Damaris, and the dog Horangi, whose face unfortunately has not come out well. Bertha is eighteen months old, and comes from a village near Seoul. Her grandmother brought her to the Orphanage as she was too old to take care of her after the father and mother both died. Dora is also eighteen months old, and she comes from Su Won, and these two quarrel with each other and take each other's bottles! Luini is nine years old, and she is the pet of everyone, and runs all the errands for the women, because they may not speak to the men-servants. That is not the correct thing to do, according to Corean customs. She also teaches the little ones to sew and read, but unfortunately she is rather delicate. Dinah is nine, and comes from Seoul. One of the Biblewomen brought her, saying her grandmother lay dying and wanted her to come to the Orphanage, and then she would die happy. because she knew then that Dinah would be made a Christian and taken care of. She is a very nice little child. So far, she has not been adopted by anyone over here. Margaret is four, and also comes from Seoul. She is also a great pet, and tells everything that goes on in the Orphanage to anyone that comes, and shows them all round the place - man, woman, or child. And now for the other picture of the elder girls. These are the ones who now go to a school, started by the Japanese quite lately. They have to pass an examination before admittance, and they have passed very well. They go to school every day, except Sundays, after breakfast, and stay till three in the afternoon, taking their mid-day rice with them. At the Corean school they went to they were expected to go to school on Sunday. They go in charge of Rachel, who stands on the left in the picture, with a packet in her hand. The teachers of the school told the children that they must walk very quietly to school, keep their eyes fixed on the ground as they go straight through the city, and not to play about. What a contrast they must look to children here, who come bounding out of school, and as I saw the children in China do. The other ones in the picture are Lui Lunei, Gana, Kang Lucia, Emma Mary, reading from left to right, top row. Second row, Rachel, Jemima, Betty; and the three in front are Angela, Marietta, Caterina Rachel is twenty, and was a heathen when she came to the Orphanage, when she was deserted by her husband. She became a Christian, and now, wishing to become a teacher, she goes to school every day, taking the children with her. She is getting on very well and hopes to get her certificate in two years. She is a communicant and teaches in the Sunday School Kang Lucia is seventeen years old, and is engaged to be married to one of the Kanghwa boys who now works in the men's hospital in Chemulpo, and who hopes to be married next year. Gana is fifteen, and is very clever. She was given to the Orphanage for them to do what they liked with her, so she is going to be a teacher. She is the head singer, and was confirmed last year. Think what it means to give you all these names! Do you know that the Coreans give no name to a woman? they do not think her worth a name. But these children are being taught their worth in our Lord's sight, and surely being made happy and blessed in that knowledge. Our new branches at Wood Newton and Apethorpe have sent us a very generous donation, for which we thank them. No new branch has been formed, but two children have joined the Association independently of a branch. Sister Nora writes that the changes and opportunities now offering in Corea make the prayers of all at home more valuable. She wishes to be remembered to all, especially to the children.

Your affectionate friend, MABEL SEATON. BEAVOR LODGE, HATCH END, June 1912.

Hospital Naval Fund.

The Eighty-eighth Meeting of the Executive Committee was held at the R.U.S Institution at 3 P. M. on Wednesday, April 10. Present: Rev. J. C. Cox-Edwards (in the chair). Bishop Corfe, Rev. S. J. Childs Clarke (Organising Secretary). Capt. Wm. R. Hall, Capt. B. H. Chevallier, Rev. Charles Moore, J. R. Clark, Esq. Capt. J. H. Corfe, and C. E. Baxter, Esq. It is hoped that before the next Meeting, H.N.F. will be represented in the China Station by a Local Secretary on board one of the ships of the Fleet as well as at Hong-kong, thus keeping more in touch with the actual work in Corea. The general business transacted was of a routine nature, C.E. BAXTER Hon. Sec. Ex. Com. H.N.F.

St. Luke's hospital, Chemulpo.

FIRST QUARTER, 1912. "The easy, uncounted Eastern minutes slid by." How unnatural to the busy Occidental, but the only possible thing to the East. Again and again must the intensely graphic truth of the words impress themselves on all who have the privilege of work in these countries. And herein lies perhaps the greatest problem and one of the greatest calls to prayer of all that we do. How are East and West to meet when time is everything to one and nothing at all to the other? How are we to conduct a hospital without due regard to rules and regulations, to hours and order? Where all are busy, and the work of each is interdependent, how can one allow of possibly unnecessary delays which will cause great waste of time to all? And yet-how can sympathy be shown, how can Christ be set forth, how even can the necessary facts of the case be discovered, unless the East be allowed to let its minutes slip by easy and uncounted? In some ways the lack of hurry is a great help; no one minds being kept waiting, or at any rate it is most rare for it to make any difference to them, so that it is possible for a small staff to undertake work which under other circumstances would imperatively demand many more workers, but on the whole the difficulties are far greater than the advantages. Truly there is much to be said for the method of work which allows of conducting a dispensary in a simple Corean building, where the doctor can sit on his floor all day and receive his patients as Corean guests, talking to them and spending his whole time upon them, but it does not seem possible to fully combine this with the giving to them all the advantages of modern knowledge. What are we to do? That is the question. A few days ago a couple from the country brought up a small child with a bad eye. It needed the greatest care, and almost certainly an operation; they had come a long way to buy some medicine and return. That was the situation, with the one addition that a vast deal of other work was waiting to be done, and the time was getting late. Of course they could only half understand what the foreigner said, this may or may not have been entirely due to the inadequate knowledge of the language, for they never expect to understand, so do not make the attempt; consequently every argument brought to bear upon them had to be repeated by one of the Corean staff, often by several of them in turn. First the father was inclined to do as advised, then when the mother agreed he changed his mind and said no, so it went on. The proposition was so simple, from the English point of view: there was the hospital, in it the child would almost certainly recover nearly perfect sight in a short time, and would be well looked after; outside very little could be done at all, and complete loss of one eye was the best that could be expected. It seemed awful waste of valuable time to spend so long reasoning with them on such a simple matter. But how did it all appear to them? It is possible to make many guesses, they may or may not be right; anyhow, the old couple did not at all like the idea that much was certain. At last they did both agree, and the child was admitted and taken off to the women's ward, where recently several others have been cured of exactly the same condition. Alas! a little later they took up the child and fled - no one knows why, and nothing more could be done. The same lack of what we should regard as a reasonable sense of urgency is shown in the way they put off coming to hospital. "I thought it would get better by itself” is by no means an uncommon answer to the question of why they did not come at once after meeting with an accident, or a disease which has been going on, getting steadily worse for months or even years. But it is in the various forms of reasoning with patients, who cannot or will not understand that most of the time is spent for which there seems to be such a need when there is much else to do. The question must always arise in each case: Is it worth while ? Sometimes it would seem not to be, but at others the gain is great. Two men were recently in hospital-one of them had a swelling of his eye, the other influenza. Both demanded permission to go out the day after they came in; both were reasoned with at some length, and persuaded to stay. Both started again the next day, and this time the eye man would not listen. He lived a long way off, and it was clear that he could not come again, and that nothing could be done for him if he went; but to all that was said he would answer nothing but the exasperating "Ka yo," which may be translated "going." and he went. The other man took a deal of talking to, and really he was the less needful of the two, for he lived near, and was much better already for the time that he had been in, though still very weak, but did at last agree to stay, much to his profit. Corean is a long drawn language, and even the simplest thing takes a long time to say ; so that when a good old countryman, who has been ill for some time, and by dint of much brooding has evolved what he thinks is a true history of his illness and the cause thereof, gets well started to try to tell his story, the time may well fly, and it becomes almost needful to cut him short and make him rather answer the questions which will reveal the truth. The worst of it is that it is so Occidental to do so and, moreover, goes a long way to destroy confidence, for they cannot believe that two simple questions, if given a straight answer, may suffice to lay bear all the facts that are of any importance. What a command of language would be soon obtained if it were possible to find time to let them talk to their heart's content! The past quarter has been noticeable for three things. First, the lunar new year arrived and, as usual, disorganised the work for a week. People want to be at home then, if it is in any way possible, and the hospital is closed for a few days, as practically no out-patients would come were it open. Secondly, for the help so kindly given in carrying on the work while short-handed. The sisters were able to set Miss Esther Ensor free for a couple of months, during which she took charge of the women's ward almost entirely, and since Miss Packer arrived in the country she has taken her place. Though neither is a trained nurse, both have been able to give very efficient assistance in the work, and so taken off the strain. Thirdly, two of the Corean staff have been baptised, so that now we have five Christians out of a total of seven. This is a great cause for thanksgiving, not only on account of the two themselves but because of the enormous difference it must make to the work of the hospital in all its departments. All the staff should be Christians if the work is to be really efficient, and to this ideal we are gradually drawing near with very thankful hearts. Coreans are not naturally lazy, as is so often said of them, but they have not got the British love of work for its own sake, or indeed any of the pushful, energetic ideas which seem the obvious common-place to us, so that work may easily get left; and it is quite a different thing to appeal to the heart of a Christian from having only to use rebuke or punishment when things go wrong. Far more than this, however, is the fact that we are approaching the condition in which all the work can be done in the Spirit of Christ, and it is only this which will make it worth doing, useful though it undoubtedly is to the bodies of many even without it. H. H. WEIR.

St. Peter's Community Foreign Mission Association.

A VERY well-attended service of Intercession was held at St. Peter's Grange. St. Leonards-on-Sea, on March 14: Canon Jones kindly took the place of the Organising Secretary, who was unavoidably recalled to London. Including a Sale of Curios the offerings amounted to £16 3s. 2d. The success of the new venture in 1911 of holding stalls for Corea at two different Sales of Work has been quite sufficient to try it again this year. There was a difficulty in the fact that the two sales occur simultaneously, and would tax our kind helpers too severely, but that has been overcome by the kindness of our associates, and it is now arranged that Mrs. and Miss Sanders will undertake the Corean stall at the Associates' Bazaar at Portman Rooms on November 5 and 6: and Mrs. Robertson-Macdonald and Miss Trollope will again preside at Kensington Town Hall on November 6 and 7. The curios are on their way, and other contributions of all kinds will be most welcome. They should be clearly marked For Corean Stall, and sent to Sister Helen Constance at St. Peter's Home, by October 26. SISTER HELEN CONSTANCE, Secretary, S.P.F.M.A. MARCH, APRIL, MAY-RECEIPTS.

Correspondence.

DEAR SIR, - Will you allow me to say through MORNING CALM to the many local secretaries and others interested in the work of our Mission to Corea who have written to me, how very sorry I am not to have been able to accept their kind invitations to speak and preach on behalf of the Corean Mission. I hope, however, to be free from the attention of the doctors by the end of July, and for the remainder of the time I am compelled to remain in England, I shall be glad to do all I can for Corea. Meanwhile, will readers of MORNING CALM carefully scan the "Wants" column under the Su Won heading, and do what they can to supply those wants. A box will be dispatched to Su Won at the end of September and any parcels, which should reach me before September 20, sent to me at 12 Neville Terrace, South Kensington, will be gratefully received and acknowledged. The donor of the organ had better write to me first, as the organ will need special packing, Yours very truly, GEORGE A. BRIDLE.

Japanese work.

WHEN last I wrote I gave a general account of the position of the Japanese work here. This quarter those who take an interest in this special work may be glad to have a more detailed account of the various centres. Seoul. - Though there has been no marked progress here, yet there are many things for which to be thankful. We had additional services all through Lent, and the attendance at these improved each time throughout the season; and Good Friday also, I think, was kept rather better than before. There was a larger number than usual of absentees from the Easter Celebration of the Holy Eucharist; but many of these were absent owing to sickness, and, in other cases, for reasons which were satisfactory. Since Miss Grosjean's departure we have been without an organist, as to one of our Japanese Christians is able, or at any rate willing to play the organ at the services. With the exception of Easter and Christmas days, when one of the ladies of the staff took pity on us, nothing has been sung at Divine Service. Of Course it ought not to, but I fear it does, make a difference to the attendance; because, though we cannot sing, we like "to make a cheerful noise." And here I should like to record publicly our thanks to one of our constant friends in Canada, who has presented a new organ to the Church. Owing to a mechanical error on the part of the builder, we have not yet been able to use it, but when that has been rectified it will be a great improvement on the old one. From Seoul we have four candidates for Baptism and Confirmation, and one for Confirmation only. It is not a large number, but the tone of them, and indeed of all the candidates this year, is such that, so far as we are allowed to judge, they will make a real contribution to the Church. Fusan. -Miss Elrington writes: "By the time this quarter's Report is in print, we shall have been a year in our new buildings at Fusan ; and though there is an immense amount to be thankful for, the need for the permanent Church, which we are waiting for, is even more apparent, for even if in actual numbers we have not (on ordinary occasions) outgrown our accommodation, the general standard of public worship would be immensely helped by having a building which can be truly set apart for the service of God. "The Holy-Week services were very representatively attended, which is a good deal to say for a congregation of very busy and often very hard-working people. On Good Friday we had the Three Hours’ Service as well as Morning and Evening Prayer, and two Celebrations of Holy Communion on Easter Day. "On Easter Even four catechumens were baptised. One is a teacher in the Girls' Middle School, who even by now, is able to help me immensely in many ways, as she is a well-educated girl. The members, as I have often said before, seem infinitesimal side by side with statistics of Corean work; but in individual cases of Japanese conversions there is so very much which is most truly a confessing of Christ before men that one is filled with hope and encouragement. “Many of our Japanese Christians at the present time are in the position of being constantly watched and criticised as to personal character, so they need our most earnest and persevering prayers. "I should not like to make a dogmatic statement on the subject, but it seems to me that Christianity stands or falls, and will stand or fall in the eyes of the Japanese by its effect on character." Chemulpo.-Miss Pooley writes: "The Church life of Chemulpo is beginning to revive. For years it has seemed as if it were nearly dead, and this change in its condition is a cause of deep thankfulness to us. There is still the sorrow of knowing that the former Christians who ought to have been standing by the Church in her time of depression are still slack, but we have now several Christian families who are aware of their responsibilities and privileges, and by their example and, in some cases, by their active work help on the work of the Church. On May 5 we hope that six or seven of the catechumens, who are now preparing for Baptism, will be baptised and confirmed, and two Christians confirmed at the same time. "Perhaps the greatest cause for thankfulness is the undoubted deepening of the spiritual life among the people here. Whereas, formerly, the Church services were attended principally by a few young men who were obviously coming from curiosity or from only a hall-hearted desire to learn, and no real wish to become Christians, the present congregation, which has largely increased, show by their whole attitude the sense of being ‘on holy ground.' Each brings his or her share of reverence to the united worship of God. Mr. Miyazawa, our Catechist, has helped forward the spirit of unity which prevails among the Christians and catechumens, so that all, even the children, feel that they are members of one family, and are proud to help in any possible way. Those who are being prepared for Baptism and Confirmation come regularly to their classes, and are most earnest. "The services during Holy Week and on Easter Day were well attended. On Low Sunday, Mr. Sharpe being here, we had a Celebration of the Holy Communion in Japanese, and six of the Christians (four were unavoidably absent) made their Communion. At Matins, before a good congregation, the baby son of one of the Christians was baptised, and a young man admitted as catechumen. "Miss Kurose has graduated from the Sendai Theological College first in her year, and is now on her way back here, where she will find plenty of work waiting for her. She has had her two years' training and has done excellently in every way. We should like to express our thanks to the Principals of the College, who have taken the greatest interest in her, and helped her in every possible way in her preparation for her work." To this I will add only two things - one, that since the above was written Miss Kurose has arrived at Chemulpo; and two, that we should like to thank also those friends in Canada, by whose help we are enabled to support her at Chemulpo. Other Parts. Few of the outlying parts have been visited Since I last wrote. The season for visiting is just coming, and Mr. Okayaki, our Catechist here, is now away on a visit. The negotiations for buying land at Wonsan and Taikyū are still going on. We had nearly completed the bargain at Taikyū, when the man with whom we were corresponding discovered at the last moment that the plot he was going to sell us was not his own! I hope my next Report will tell of the conclusion of these two important points. A. L. SHARPE. April 20, 1912.

Local Notes.

Seoul.-Baptisms took place on Easter Eve, when several adults and children were baptised, the former mostly belonging to the village of Poungnami. Some who could not leave home were baptised in their little church in Poungnami in Easter Week. On Easter Day a number of the Christians went to the cemetery at Yeng Hwa, where there was a service at 3 P.M. Ten of the elder girls from St. Peter's Orphanage are now attending the Government High School, some of them with a view to becoming teachers; two of them have passed an examination which will enable them to qualify for certificates after a two years' course; the others will take a three years' course. Several other Christian girls are also attending the school. The pupils are all Coreans; the teachers are Japanese, and all the instruction is given in the Japanese language. Chemulpo. - Ten adults and seven children received Holy Baptism on Septuagesima Sunday. This is the largest number receiving Baptism at any one time during the past eight years; also there were an equal number of men and women baptised and through these Baptisms four families became completely Christian. The island of Tai-Mairi (i.e Great Water) has been added to the Chemulpo district. Mr. Badcock visited the island in February and baptised six men and five women who had been preparing for Baptism for some time. Miss Emily Packer arrived here on March 8. The Bishop has kindly lent her to Chemulpo for a time to work in the Women's Ward at St. Luke's Hospital.

Kanghwa. - Mr. Hillary being still away on furlough and Mr. Wilson's departure from Kanghwa having been fixed for February, we were very glad to welcome the Bishop when he arrived at the end of that month on a two months' visit to his old station. As a result of this episcopal visit we were able to arrange for Baptisms and Confirmations on the same day in six different centres, including the islands of Napsum and Kyo-dong. Tongchin, our small outpost on the Mainland, was visited twice by the Bishop, when a small number of adults and children received the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation respectively in their own chapel and joined in offering the Holy Eucharist. In Kanghwa city Baptisms and Confirmations took place on the first Sunday in Lent; unfortunately most of the candidates came from outside (some, even, coming from the island of Seiro), a state of affairs which causes great anxiety. The Catechist is, however, doing his best by means of Lantern Services, &c., to attract the city people, and already we have some small results. At Onsoutong, owing to an epidemic of smallpox, only the adult Baptisms and Confirmations were taken by the Bishop, the Baptism of children being left over until the next visit of the Priest. The work at Ankol has been causing great anxiety for some time : on Low Sunday the Bishop suspended eleven of the Christians for six months. It was also decided to postpone all the Baptisms this spring, so as to test the candidates for another six months at least. The Easter Communions were well up to the average, and the more frequent celebrations, especially at Onsoutong, were well attended. Before the Bishop leaves us on the first of May, he will have visited practically every place where we have work, including the islands, and will thus have gained a good idea of the present state of our work, needs, and difficulties in Kanghwa district. Paik-chun.- This district has now been cut off from Kanghwa, and the Rev. F. Wilson and Miss Bourne and her sister have come to live here. The whole of their baggage, which was no inconsiderable load, was carried in from the river by the Christians, thus saving the Mission a good deal of expense. The welcome extended shows how much these people appreciate the presence of a Priest and foreign workers among them. A Girls' School has been started, with an attendance of about twenty-five children, half of whom are Christians. They are being taught to give of their best to the Church, and are showing that whilst they may not be able to give money, yet they can give work; the bigger girls spent the evenings in Lent in making a cope, which was offered by them at the Holy Eucharist on Maunday-Thursday, and used for the first time at the Baptisms on Easter Eve. From Evensong on Maunday-Thursday until six o'clock on Good Friday morning the Christians kept watch, in turn, through the night; from 6 A.M. until noon there were meditations on our Lord's Passion, pictures being used to show the Way of the Cross." On Easter Eve forty adults and eight children were baptised: many of these had literally “sought their repentance diligently and with tears," and the joy of baptising such penitents is beyond the power of human words to describe. No greater proof of the power and truth of Christianity can be shown than the altered lives of these people. On Easter morning all the communicants and the newly baptised met their Risen Lord at the altar, there being barely room in church for all those who came to take part in the greatest of all services. As an act of thanksgiving for the spiritual benefits which they have received this Lent and Easter, and to show their gratefulness for Dr. Borrow's coming to begin medical work here, the Christians asked that the alms given on Easter Day might be given to the hospital which is to be opened next month. The amount given entirely by the Coreans was fifteen yen (about 30s.), which is further evidence of the spontaneous generosity of these people. Su Won.- Easter is just over, and visits to the more distant villages will be the order of things for the next few weeks. What Lent has meant to individual Christians we cannot expect even to guess at, yet there were signs during Holy Week, Good Friday and Easter, which cannot be passed over without thought. On Good Friday, though the church was not full at any service, yet a great many must have been to one or more of the five services held during the day : a meditation on the Passion, with the lantern, was an experiment which justified itself by a large congregation and wonderful quietness, the Catechist, Kim Paul, conducting the meditation with great earnestness. If the fact that some eighty Christians (many of some years' standing) made their first confession during Holy Week means anything. it encourages us to feel that Lent has led some, at least, to feel the need of deeper penitence. On Easter morning about two hundred people made their Communion; this was a slight fall in numbers from last year, probably owing to the absence of the Christians from two villages, who, instead of coming in as usual will make their Easter Communion at home, when the Priest next visits them. At the other end of the district, the new Catechist, Kim Athanasius, is building a chapel in his village (Chin-Mal), and being of an original turn of mind, and having taken his degree (Corean) in surveying and carpentry, he is not content with an ordinary square or oblong building, but has designed one after the Su Won church, with transepts and an apse. The contractor, a poor, old, local Corean carpenter, after many protestations, has abandoned himself into Athanasius' hands: when last seen, though still some way from completion, the church looked most promising. The total cost is estimated about ₤10. Are there not many of the readers of MORNING CALM who would like to build churches at their own charges? The first batch of boys leave the Su Won school this Easter, after a four or five years' course. If only we had a High School or hostel in Seoul to which we could send them! Chin-Chun. - Our thanks are due to all who have subscribed to the building of the Lady Chapel, which has been well used by our Christians and is a great convenience in many ways. In it we held a retreat for the Catechists, and Father Drake addressed some of our Christian women there. Dr. and Mrs. Laws have most kindly given a new dossal and hangings to the church, which have greatly added to the beautifying of the sanctuary. During Lent Dr Laws has also helped very much by taking the Wednesday evening services and giving addresses on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The hospital is overrun [with patients, the doctor] being kept very well employed. An American doctor from the Chuk-san mines came up to have a look at a Corean hospital and was much pleased with all he saw. The voluntary workers accompanied by Mr. Dallas have visited several villages with the magic lantern. We are badly in need of slides with not too many figures on them, especially some to illustrate the Parables. The Easter Day services were well attended : after the Celebration we visited the grave of one of our Christians, where we had Intercessions on behalf of the Faithful Departed, with a short discourse and several Easter hymns.

Wants.

PAIK-CHUN. - A lantern and slides. For the Girls' School-Knitting-pins, needles, wool, embroidery silks. Linen for purificators. A sewing-machine. Su Won. - Footballs, cricket and tennis balls, old or new. Lantern slides of any description, sacred views of any country, astronomy, botany, animals. Altar fittings, curtains, candlesticks, sacred vessels and cruets. Sacred pictures, greatly appreciated in country chapels. Processional cross for St. Stephen's, Su Won. A good American organ. A rug for the altar step in St. Stephen's Church. Red and green chasubles. A set of silk chalice veils and burses (large size). Altar linen, amices, linen chalice veils, palls, corporals, purificators, Lavabo towels, credence cloths, albs, surplices. A large chalice and paten for Su Won Church. CHIN-CHUN-Pictures, strongly mounted, especially scenes from our Lord's life, single figures of Saints of the Old and New Testament and of post-Apostolic times (Address to - Rev. W. N. Gurney, Crowthorne, Berks.) Small censer (address as above). Acknowledgments. SEOUL. - Many thanks for small crucifixes much valued by the Christian women. Su WON. - Anonymous donations to the Sanctuary Fund. Footballs promised by the Rev. C. Chamber and by Mrs. H. Pence, of Horbury (these have not yet come; further acknowledgments on arrival). Two pipes for the priest-in-charge from a Scotch firm-anonymous.

The Spirit of Missions.

By our missionary enterprise "We are being educated out of ignorance and indifference into knowledge and the desire to serve; we are being trained to a sense of Christian obligation, to self-denial, to united effort, to a knowledge of the Bible and of missionary needs, to more capacity for prayer, and through prayer to a more real desire to serve the Lord." "SOME years ago I was out on a Gospel preaching tour in the Telugu country, in regions away from our Christian congregations I had my travelling dispensary with me. There came to my tent one day an educated Hindoo gentleman, high in office, in caste, and in social position. He had previously sent, asking if I would see him privately and prescribe for him for a physical ailment. I found that it was a simple matter, despatched in a few words. He had merely used it as a cover to secure conversation with me privately, Nicodemus-like, on religious matters. He himself introduced the subject. We talked for some time on the character and the claims of Jesus of Nazareth to be the Saviour of the world. At length, in a very earnest feeling manner, he spoke substantially as follows: Sir, I am not a Christian, I am still regarded as a devout Hindoo; but in my heart I dare not deny the claims of the Bible, I see the power of Jesus Christ in the lives of His followers so distinctly that I cannot deny His Divinity. He must be divine, or He could not work such a change in the lives of those who become His disciples. He is not yet my Saviour. Caste, wealth, position, family, all hold me back. But even now I never allow Him to be spoken against in my presence. I have long been reading the Bible in secret. The more I read of Christ and ponder over His life and teachings, and the power to conquer sin that comes from embracing His religion, the more do I feel that in the end I shall have to accept Him at any cost as my personal Saviour."-American Board of Missions Review. MR. TAFT, the President of the United States, addressing a meeting of three thousand laymen in New York, said: "I confess that there was a time when I was enjoying a smug provincialism, that I hope has left me now, when I rather sympathised with the father of Sam Weller when he said that he would not give anything for flannel waistcoats for the heathen but would come down pretty handsome for 'straitvestkits' for some people at home. Until I went to the Orient, and there was thrown upon me the responsibilities with reference to the extension of civilisation in those distant parts, I did not realise the importance of Foreign Missions. It is through the foreign missions that we must expect to have the picture of Christian Brotherhood presented to the natives - the true spirit of Christian sympathy. That is what makes in the progress of civilisation the immense importance of Christian Missions." THE REV. DE JEAN MCEWEN, a priest of the Pongus Mission, writing from Isles de Los says: I am grieved to have to state that there has been another outbreak of ‘witchcraft palaver.' A woman who had lost two of her children lost another from a sudden illness. Her relations insisted on the 'Soothsayers' (handsomely paid, of course) being consulted, and eventually the maternal grandmother was accused of having 'eaten out’ the victim. The poor old lady naturally denied the charge, but was so harrassed by questions and insinuations that eventually she confessed to having ‘eaten out’ the child. All the parties were Christians and the accused a Communicant of old standing and of blameless character. I called the whole body of Communicants together and spoke to them regarding the inconsistency of their behaviour in apparently believing such nonsense, and the poor old woman was called upon to declare at the altar, with her hand on the Bible, that she was innocent. This she did, and the decision of the Church was given, that she had done nothing wrong in God's sight beyond her nervous and frightened admission. The people however would not accept this decision. A few months later another little lad died, also suddenly. This was the occasion for a witch doctor to ‘smell out the witches' One came, and eventually ten accused witches were sent to Conakry, kept there a week, and then allowed to return to their homes. Soon after this the affair exhausted itself. It was felt that the Church must take serious action, and the Archdeacon came over, and in church brought home to the people what was practically their apostacy. The whole church was placed under discipline, and Holy Communion was not to be administered till further notice. At the Communicants' class, constant prayer was offered up for the Holy Spirit to visit us. Special addresses were given on Sundays, and the Litany in Susu was sung in procession through the town by the whole congregation as a solemn act of penitence. At last on St. Peter's Day a general confession was made by the congregation. This was followed by the absolution, and then the whole assembly, ranged in front of the chancel, solemnly renewed their Baptismal vows. The Holy Eucharist was then celebrated, the whole congregation, men, women, and children, remaining to the end. Let us hope and pray earnestly that this may be the last outbreak of witchcraft among us.” "The solution of racial problems is the despair of statesmen. It is for the Church of God to face with quiet courage and with buoyant hope the perplexities which daunt the civil ruler who is striving to promote the peace and happiness of the world. The Church is ready with the old true message of the Gospel – ‘Ye are all one in Christ Jesus.'"-Encyclical Letter of Lambeth Conference. The following extracts from the letters of a "settler " in Western Australia, who was recently a server in a good London Church, have a touch of pathos about them which must appeal to many : "We are far removed from civilisation, no clergyman or even a doctor within sixty miles of us.... Your kind letter was indeed welcome, it is a treat to hear from anybody. . . . I am glad to say that I have kept in touch with my faith, but it is sometimes very difficult, and I miss the Church and services greatly. There seems to be something lacking in the life here." This man is earning ₤3 10s, a week in a mine, as a labourer, and looking forward to "make a home” - the expression occurs repeatedly in his letters. To-day he, like thousands more in similar circumstances, “remembers Zion.” How will it be with him to-morrow? - Dio. of Bunbury Occ. Paper. Nou. 1911.