Morning Calm v.26 no.145(1915 Jul.)

The Bishop's Letter.

(To the Readers of MORNING CALM.) MY DEAR FRIENDS, -

Troubles crowd upon us thick and fast. A year ago I was telling you that with an addition of seven or eight priests to our existing staff of twelve, I thought we might possibly "keep our end up and at least prevent the work of the Church in Corea falling backwards, pending the gradual growth of our native ministry. The physical breakdown in one direction or another, which I dreaded if we attempted to carry on our existing work with our present staff, realised itself almost immediately in the case of Frs. Hewlett and Dallas during those few weeks I spent in England last summer. Fr. Hewlett, who very nearly died last July, is now on his way home for a much-needed furlough, but will, we hope, return “like a giant refreshed" at the end of the year. From all that I can hear it is very doubtful whether Fr. Dallas will ever be able to take up work in the Far East again. Instead of an addition of seven or eight there is therefore so far a net loss of one, where literally no one can be spared.

Next we have Fr. Bridle, who has done yeoman's service for the Mission during the last eighteen years, realising that his strength is not what it used to be and in particular that his increasing lameness makes it impossible for him to give the oversight he would like to give and ought to give to the widely scattered work surrounding his station at Su Won. He thinks that he has other causes for uneasiness, with regard to which I have done my best to relieve his anxiety.

In particular I know he would feel it very keenly if the constant shrinkage of our staff necessitated (as it may very well necessitate) such a revision of our methods and redistribution of our forces as would in any measure detach him from his beloved Su Won.

Nobody, of course, in these disturbed times, can say what lies ahead of us. But plainly if our meagre staff of twelve priests, instead of being raised to twenty, is to be reduced to six or seven, some such revision of methods may be necessary. As I have already pointed out, it might become necessary to concentrate our few remaining priests in some one centre, from which they must do their best to visit, in turn and at longish intervals, all the outlying stations, for the periodical administration of the Sacraments etc. Such a course would (I think) be full of danger, as (pace Mr. Roland Allen) I doubt whether the native Church and our native workers (for the most part as yet almost wholly untrained) are strong enough to be left so largely to their own resources. At present, of course, it is nothing more than a suggestion for meeting a difficult set of circumstances which may arise in the near future, and I have made it quite plain that, if some such action becomes necessary, I shall be quite ready to discard my own suggestion for any other more feasible and satisfactory one. But to those who, like Fr. Bridle, have become wedded to, and identified with, one particular corner of the Church's work here, even the suggestion is sufficiently disturbing! And now that he has gone for a much-needed holiday to Japan, I hear with dismay that great pressure is being put upon him to accept the vacant chaplaincy-i.e. the spiritual care of the very large English community at Kobe. It is, of course, an important and very difficult post, though it would not involve such a heavy physical strain as does the charge of his present district at Su Won. And I am half afraid from what he writes to me from Japan that he may feel that he ought not to refuse the offer, though we all hope he may. Then there is the very difficult question of the marriage of the clergy. I do not think I am breaking anything but very “open secrets" when I say that, of the staff of twelve at my disposal this time last year, no less than four are at the present moment either married or contemplating matrimony in the near future. I have never made any secret of my belief that, whatever may be said of the marriage of the clergy elsewhere, I cannot myself regard it as a suitable or possible arrangement in the Mission Field -anyhow in Corea. Personally, I should be at my wits' end to know what to do with four married clergy here! Moreover the norm of the Mission has always been celibacy for the clergy, here as in the U.M.C.A. And I have reason to believe not only that many supporters of the Mission at home, but some at least of those who joined it as missionaries on the old understanding, would feel greatly aggrieved by sach a revolution. The practical difficulties, moreover, are enormous. Even if money is forthcoming for adequate salaries for married clergy, we have no houses suited for married couples. And unless we are to erect such houses on all our stations, it will mean that a given priest has to be placed not where the needs of the Church call for him, but in the place where there happens to be a house suitable for his wife and family. I am therefore in a cleft stick, and, whatever I do, am pretty sure to be severely blamed, though I suppose that Bishops must get used to that! I certainly have no desire to lose the four priests in question and shall certainly be called over the coals for doing so. On the other hand, even if I felt equal to carrying on the Mission after its basis had been revolutionised, I should be regarded as a traitor by those to whom the older ideals of the Mission are dear and should certainly alienate sympathies in quarters to which we should naturally look for help both in money and men. I fear therefore that I must stick to my guns with such of the clergy as are prepared to stand by me, and we must just go on till we drop. But I would have you note that this, together with the circumstances already referred to, is likely enough to bring our staff of clergy in the near future down from twelve to six, instead of raising it to twenty! I had hoped to write at length in this letter on the question of our schools and of education generally in Corea. But this is so large a subject, and events of such importance have recently occurred in connexion with it, that I feel it must have a letter all to itself next time.

Miss Bourne has just started homewards on her furlough after five very useful years of unselfish work as a volunteer here. I am afraid that we may not count upon another spell. Next week Miss France and Miss Dodd also both start homewards - the former hoping very much to return in a year's time, while the latter desires to resume her nursing work at home. Our staff of lady-workers therefore is suffering almost as much from depletion as our staff of clergy!

Yours very truly in Christ, MARK,

Bishop in Corea. PS. - I am glad to be able to add that Mr. Bridle has declined the Kobe Chaplaincy. BISHOP'S LODGE, SEOUL, May 2, 1915.

The Festival.

THE Annual Festival of the Corean Mission was held, as usual, on May 3 for the eighth year in succession. On the whole the attendance was quite satisfactory; the meeting in the Church House being larger than in previous years. The Bishop of Kensington presided in the absence of the Bishop of London, and spoke with his usual directness and force. Dr. Weir confined his remarks to the women's side of the work, and his speech was a valuable addition to our knowledge of the Corean woman. His statement that a pronounced characteristic of the Corean feminine was "mulishness," while providing at the time no little amusement, will be hailed, really, with some satisfaction; for "mulishness" may, and under God assuredly will, develop into the wholly Christian virtue of "steadfastness"; and we can pray for no better or greater sign of the Grace of God. A state of flux may be a sign of growth and independent thought, but, where Eternal Truths are concerned, a steadfastness, stubborn and mulish, is a most desirable trait. At the last minute a telegram was received from Mr. Sharpe saying that he was unable, through indisposition, to speak as he had promised to do. This was a great disappointment, since he could have spoken with authority upon that very essential and important side of the Mission's work-that of shepherding and attracting the Japanese settlers in Corea. The Organising Secretary was able to get twelve hours' leave from his ship to attend the afternoon meeting.

The Annual Report.

With this number of MORNING CALM is published the Annual Report of the work done at home and in Corea in 1914, together with the Statement of Accounts and Balance Sheet. In previous years this has appeared in April, and has been submitted to the Central Committee at the annual meeting in May; but owing to the war it was impossible to publish it sooner, as the "copy" had not arrived from Corea. More Men! We know what that means at the front. We have learned to understand the supreme importance of replacing casualties at once in France and Flanders and Gallipoli. We have organised the nation to provide for any emergency of this kind. WHEN WILL THE CHURCH AT HOME TAKE SOME SIMILAR STEP? Suppose it were left to individual generals to find their own officers and men! And yet that is exactly what we are asking our bishops to do. The sooner we have some kind of organization by which reinforcements can be sent where they are needed, the sooner will the Church be able, not only to hold her own, but to take the offensive. Perhaps one day we shall have an order of priests organised and ready to go anywhere as they may be required and called for. The letter now published from Bishop Trollope is as pathetically urgent as that of two years ago when the Mission was threatened with financial strangulation.

The Annual festival.

THE Corean Festival was held this year again on Monday, May 3, on the Festival of the Holy Cross. It was a great happiness to be able to resume our observance of our Festival on Holy Cross Day. which has for so many years been associated with the Corean Mission.

The day began with a celebration of the Holy Eucharist in St. Faith's Chapel in St. Paul's Cathedral, when Bishop Corfe was the celebrant, and there was a congregation of some thirty supporters of the Mission. The Solemn Eucharist was held at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, by the kind permission of the Vicar, the Rev. H. N. Bate, when there was a good congregation. The sermon was preached by the Rev. M. R. Carpenter-Garnier, Assistant Priest of All Saints, Margaret Street, who had recently paid a visit to the Corean Mission, and was able to speak therefore from a first-hand knowledge of the Mission.

The Sermon.

"Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me with sacrifice."-Psalm 1. 5. I.-The feast of the Invention or finding of the Holy Cross reminds us that even in Eastertide there can be no leaving of the Cross behind. Our thoughts are concentrated upon the wonder and glory of the Risen Life. Yet it is a wonder and glory that has come through death. We associate the idea of Sacrifice with the life of our Lord not only in Holy Week - it is the prevailing characteristic of the Incarnate Life - it is associated even now with His glorified and ascended life in the courts of Heaven. But our Lord is at work to-day not only in Heaven but here in this world : He is speaking, saving, sanctifying, in a covenanted manner, in and through the Holy Catholic Church. Thus the characteristic of the life of Christ must be the characteristic of the life of the Church - namely, showing forth sacrifice. There is a twofold manner in which this characteristic is to be displayed. 1. An expression before God. The offering of the Holy Sacrifice : that is the greatest task of the Church. As we consider the great need of the world, our tendency is to think of the Church as existing primarily for the benefit of man. We must correct that tendency and remember that she exists primarily for the glory of God. Thus, at Christ's bidding, she brings Him the bread and the wine. The Holy Spirit transforms them so that they become the Body and Blood of Christ ; and so transforming them, He uplifts them so that they are identified with the Heavenly offering. Thus the Church may perform her greatest task of setting the perfectly surrendered life of her Lord before the Heavenly Throne. 2. An expression before the world. The showing forth of the Christlike character. This our Lord cares for more than any detail of our service, no matter how important that detail may be. Growth in likeness to Him is at once the test of discipleship and the condition of true worship. It involves surrender, dependence, and suffering. II. -We who have been called to Him are bound to propagate the Truth and nothing less than the Truth. At the heart of the religion we propagate must be sacrifice. It is because this is being done in Corea that we can be so thankful for our Mission. From his glimpse of the Mission in 1914 the preacher brought away two impressions. 1. The converts are learning the meaning of true worship. The words of the text are being literally carried out ; the faithful are being gathered together for the offering of the sacrifice of the new covenant. In the humblest chapel in the outlying districts, in the midst of the humblest surroundings, there is still being represented there the perfect worship of Heaven. 2. The members of the Mission are manifesting the character of sacrifice. Probably there is no Mission staff in the world who would be less ready for their character of sacrifice to be noticed ;yet stress must be laid upon it, for it is so impressive a feature of the Mission. They are men and women who are obviously accepting the cross of our Blessed Lord. And through them the converts are faithfully learning to express Christ to the world. III. - Our brothers and sisters in Corea are face to face with many problems and perplexities. They will glory in suffering for our Lord's sake: but we are bound to make our contribution of help and sympathy. We must plead the Holy Sacrifice for them. Here we are at the heart of all true charity and at the centre of all effective activity. We must offer our lives to God for the performance of His will. He has given is some point of contact with Corea - we must ask ourselves if we are responding to that call. Especially we must pray for more priests. In this time of darkness and difficulty light will come just in so far as we give ourselves unreservedly to our Blessed Lord. To that end we must struggle and work and pray. The alms during the Festival Service and the proceeds of the collection at the meeting were given to the General Fund of the Mission. The annual meeting of the Central Committee was held in the Church House before the public meeting, and a brief report of the work of the Mission was presented, and various matters of interest were discussed. Particular stress was laid upon the necessity of securing seven additional priests for the work of the Mission, not only to fill up the gaps caused by the withdrawal of Mr. Dallas (through the serious breakdown in health which necessitated his immediate return to England), Mr. Weston, and Mr. Sharpe (who is leaving to take charge of the Mission work in Manchuria), but to provide that minimum of supervision necessary to carry on effectively existing work.

Association of Prayer and work for Corea.

I must begin by giving a message of thanks from Sister Constance Irene to the many kind friends who (in response to the appeal in the March leaflet) sent gifts for the Corean women. The Sister is not quite sure of having been able to acknowledge them all, but she sent me the following list, with the hope that the donors would forgive her if she had omitted any names, and would realise that their gifts will be much prized in Corea. Mrs. Cooper, 2 linen embroidered burses, 4 crucifixes, wools and pieces of coloured material; Miss Trollope, safety-pins; Miss Phillips, silk bags and working materials; Miss Ellis, coloured cottons and pieces, muslin for veils : Miss Spragge, 6 crucifixes; Mrs. Sanders, fair linen and nainsook for veils, ribbons, needles and safety-pins; Miss Hewitt, nainsook, safety and fancy pins, pictures; Miss Octavia Walrond, a doll for one of the orphans; Miss Shephend, scrap-book and woolly comforters; Mrs. Wilson, pictures, needles, knitting-pins, cottons etc, ; Mrs. Gordon Austin, wools, cottons, silks, pieces, needles, safety-pins, crochet hooks, cards, etc.; Miss Straith, watch in leather bracelet for one of the catechist women: Mrs. Tolley, nainsook for veils, Miss Wynyard, watches for 2 women; Miss Cow, crochet hooks and coloured cottons; Miss Thirlwall, Indian silver cross, safety-pins, crochet hooks and bright cottons; Several Friends at Petersfield, money for watch for Cho Eunice and for presents for the other catechists; G.F.S. Members, St. Gabriel's and St. Saviour's, Pimlico, money for 2 watches and many nice small presents. We cannot be too grateful to Sister Constance Irene for her kindness in speaking in various A.P.W. Branches during her furlough. She wrote to me in April of her delightful visits to Peters field, Poplar, and Pimlico; and I believe that those who so much enjoyed her talks will be able to pray and work for Corea with more zeal than ever before. We have thought much of the Sister during her voyage, but by the time this is in print I hope that news of her safe arrival may have reached us. I am thankful to hear that our new branch of St. Gabriel's, Poplar, has made a good start. The branch was inaugurated by a meeting in April when the Rev. G S. Dallas spoke, and the following month nineteen members from St. Gabriel's were present at a special service at St. Saviour's. This service was also well attended by the parochial A.P.W. members, and a most interesting address was given by the Rev. Mark Carpenter-Garnier. We are very grateful to the Rev. A. G. Bagshaw for promising to start a branch of A.P.W. in his new parish at Londesborough (Yorks). I am not certain as I write what the total of new members or of money will be for the past quarter. (N.B. - It would be very helpful if Local Secretaries would be punctual in sending in returns, so that County Secretaries may not be prevented from sending in reports by the 6th of the month.) At the present moment both seem likely to be smaller than usual, and the war will be our excuse, I am sure, however, that before the year is any older we ought to face the question boldly and see whether a falling off, either in members or money, is really unavoidable. I believe that it is possible for the real value of our Association to show itself in these days of trouble, and that such a time as we are now passing through will prove what our membership is really worth. The war may indeed rob us of our money, but it can never take from us the power to pray; and prayer is, after all, what we have promised to give. This is not written in any spirit of criticism, nor because there is any special cause for anxiety as regards A.P.W., but rather in order that the whole Association, and the General Secretary in particular, may not be allowed to grow slack, but that we may brace ourselves to fresh effort in these days of exceptional difficulty. Some of our Secretaries have been obliged most reluctantly to give up their usual small Sales of Work for Corea, and therefore we must do our utmost to make the central stall in London a great success. It will be held (as in 1913) at the big Missionary Sale at the Horticultural Hall, and the dates this year will be November 25 and 26. Mrs. Napier Trollope, 32 Nevern Mansions, Earls Court, S.W., will be very glad to receive contributions of plain work, such as household linen and useful garments of all sorts, and no doubt many will be glad to send shirts, socks, and other things which they know will be of value to our soldiers and sailors during the coming winter. Please do not send any fancy work or dressed dolls, as there is very little demand for these at London Sales. Such things, however, as old lace, china, glass, pictures, jewellery, or small bits of furniture would be very acceptable; but they should be packed carefully, as two years ago there were sad breakages in the post. I hope that most of us will be able to contribute something and that when November comes there will be no lack of purchasers. MAUD I. FALWASSER, General Secretary.

Children's Letter.

DEAR CHILDREN, - Letters, you know, have been taking a long time to come from Corea; so the account of the Christmas Festival at the Orphanage arrived just too late for the last letter to you - so I am now going to give you Sister Nora's account of their doings. “The children had a bright Christmas. The fir trees on the hills here are small and straggling, quite unsuited to please 'Father Xmas;' so I asked the Director of the Denaralogical College here if he could let us have a spruce fir, and he sent us a beauty with its roots; it is planted in a tub, and we hope it may do duty many times and never be thrown into a lumber-room like the one Hans Andersen tells about. We invited the girls who attend our Christian School, and had nearly fifty to tea and games and Christmas Tree on the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Our box from England did not arrive till the end of January; but the children set to work to make cuffs and comforters from odds and ends of wool, covered old boxes with coloured paper (quite a gift of the Coreans, who make them of all sizes and shapes), made up some of the purses every child has from small pieces of coloured stuffs sent out. Two friends gave us money to buy Japanese toys, as well as cakes and sweets and fruit, and altogether they were very pleased with their evening and the presents they chose off the tree. The orphans also had a present each on Christmas Day from one of our kind lady workers, writingboxes, work-boxes and various toys for the little ones. These things are all so prettily made in Japan, and as Corea is now a province of Japan they come over here in quantities, and even in this little town the toy shops are most attractive; and much as Coreans may admire the things the Japanese have introduced, they cannot yet like their calendar. It is the same as ours in England, with New Year's Day on the first of January, and is now used here for all business purposes; but the country folk cling to their old Chinese calendar and lunar months by which they regulate all their farming and gardening and are much put out if (as they say)’ the weather is not obedient;' but it is strange how seldom this occurs; usually the frost ceases and the rains come on within a day or two of the time prescribed. The New Year means to the children new clothes, a general holiday, great varieties of good things to eat, and a game which in the olden time was not confined to children. It is called ‘Nool,' and is a strong board balanced on a roll of rice bags rolled up. One stands on each end, and one sits in the middle; the two end ones jump, often four or five feet from the board, and rarely miss landing on it again. In the days when women never went outside their houses, not even for a long life of sixty years from their wedding day, they had their 'Nool Pan' so placed that, if they jumped high enough, they could get a good look over the yard-wall up and down the street, and into their neighbour's garden. It was like being in prison; but they did it, and if it lasted sixty years they had an arch of green boughs on their graves, which was considered a great honour, an honour which will never be repeated; for they all go out now, travel by train and tram, and the world is no longer a ‘terra incognita.’ "I remember a lady in our hospital who had never seen a boat on the river, though only three miles from Seoul, and could not understand the picture of a ship or a carriage. She had come to the hospital in a close chair and saw nothing. Not that there was a carriage to be seen; for no wheeled vehicle could travel in the Seoul streets of twenty years ago, where now we see tram-cars, rickshas, carriages, and even motors "As I write, I am watching the children under twelve years of age trying their 'Nool’ in the playground ; for Sunday next will be their New Year's Day. They have a short board, so that tumbles do not signify: the elder girls have a larger spring-board in the yard behind the orphanage, so that they are more private and may feel that they are keeping up old Corean traditions." There are twenty-seven orphans in the House now. Edna was at the Hostel when Sister Nora wrote, working hard for her graduation certificate. The girls so far have done exceedingly well at the examinations; so I expect Edna passed. We shall be very interested to hear about it. Luke is boarded out; he has no relations at all and is a delicate boy, and not likely to be able to support himself for some time. The band of King's Messengers at Berkhampstead who used to support him do not do so now; so it would be nice if some branch could undertake to try and help towards the expenses for him. I have some very nice donations to thank various branches for, the list will be found below ; and again I thank you for your generous help, which is sorely needed. Believe me, Your sincere Friend, MABEL SEATON. 61 YORK STREET CHAMBERS, BRYANSTON SQUARE, W., June 1915.

St. Peter's Community foreign Mission Association.

This is not the time to expect anything above the average from our members, either in help or funds; but our income keeps steady and there is no reason to fear a decrease of subscriptions. We were very grateful to friends at St. Mark's, Regents Park, who most kindly included a stall for Corea in their Missionary Sale, by which our funds benefited. We were glad to see a larger number than usual of S.P.F.M.A. members at the Festival Services this year. Sister Constance Irene paid visits, and held talks in various places, including St. Peter's Grange, where quite a number of Corean friends gathered to meet her. She left England on May 8, and is travelling by N.Y.K. liner - Kashima Maru. She has reached Gibraltar without mishap, and we hope she will be in Corea by St. Peter's Day. SISTER HELEN CONSTANCE, Secretary, S.P.F.M.A.

COREAN ANNUAL REPORT.

The Commissary's contribution to the Annual Report may well be reduced to the smallest dimensions in a year when we are all trying to see what we can do without. Indeed, nothing serious would happen if it were omitted altogether, for the reports from the various departments which are appended below tell of the work of the Mission on the Home side. It seems to have been anticipated that there would be a serious falling off of income owing to the war in the latter part of last year, though we do not know on what ground that should be expected. It is hardly a compliment to our supporters to suggest that they would begin by economising in what they give to God for the work of the Church abroad. That should be the last and not the first item of expenditure to be cut down. It is satisfactory to note that in all departments the income has been maintained at a high level, though not, of course, at the high-water mark which was reached in 1913. There are, for instance, several of the ₤10 guarantees still outstanding, which will no doubt be forthcoming presently. Several sales of work had to be abandoned, though in some cases the Mission has not been allowed to suffer on that account, money contributions having been received in lieu of the gifts in kind which would under ordinary circumstances have been received. The Organising Secretary volunteered as a Naval Chaplain soon after the outbreak of the war, and is now Stationed in H.M.S. Vernon. This may be expected to quicken interest in the Mission in naval circles, while other branches of our work will not be allowed to suffer in consequence of his absence. The outstanding need of the present time is men rather than money. Though there are several priests preparing to go, they will not be ready for some time, and when they do go, they will barely fill the gaps in the Mission staff. The Bishop asks for five more priests at once; this is the minimum that will suffice. It is most important that the outlying stations should be strengthened by having two priests instead of one. This both for the sake of the work which cannot be adequately carried on by one priest, who has long journeys to make which necessitate the neglect of important training work at the headquarters, and also for the sake of the clergy, who are in danger of breaking down through the strain of single-handed work. It is a grievous pity that whereas before no new workers could be accepted because there were no funds to pay them, now the additional income which has been received cannot be used for lack of men. It was a great stimulus to the Mission work at home to have the Bishop amongst us for a few weeks in the autumn, and we are very thankful that he has been safely preserved through the perils of his return journey. The past year has been marked by the serious illness of some members of the Mission staff. Mr. Hewlett had a very serious illness in the autumn, from which we are thankful to know that he has made a good recovery. Mr. Dallas was, we regret to say, invalided home at the end of the year, and though he has made good progress during the voyage and since he returned home, it is still very doubtful whether he will be allowed to return to Corea. Mr. Weston, too, has had to spend part of his furlough under medical treatment for his throat. All this gives point to the urgent appeal which the Bishop makes for more men. I venture to commend this matter to the earnest prayers of all the supporters of the Mission. ARTHUR G. DEEDES, Bishop's Commissary. ST. JOHN THE DIVINE, KENSINGTON, S.W.

Association of Prayer and work for Corea.

THE past year has not been an eventful one for A.P.W. A certain number of meetings and sales have been held throughout the year in various parts of the country, and we have been greatly helped by those who have been with us on furlough from Corea, but, whereas the greater number of meetings generally take place in the autumn, the last three months of 1914 were unusually quiet on account of the war. We are, however, very grateful to those who, in spite of many difficulties, have managed to hold small sales and have thus given substantial help to the Mission Funds. The total income for 1914 was almost equal to that of 1913 (if we exclude the proceeds of the Horticultural Hall Sale), and was thus far in excess of any year previous to 1913. This makes me hope that we are all strong in our determination not to let the income of the Mission suffer, and that, though difficult days are ahead, we shall need no appeal for help other than that which is always with us as Members of the Association. We have lost two branches during the year, but we have six new ones, making a net gain of four local centres. The number of new Members has been 302. These figures point to a forward move, even though it may not be a very rapid one, and I want to take this opportunity of thanking the many Secretaries who have given me very real help by working so zealously during 1914. But we still want many more branches and very many more Members (both Adult and Children), and we ought none of us to rest content till we have experienced the truth (impressed upon us nearly twenty-five years ago by the Founder of A.P.W.)" that they who stay at home have every bit as hard and real work to do for Foreign Missions as they who go abroad." MAUD I. FALWASSER, General Secretary.

A.P.W. Children's Branch. DURING the past year three branches of the Association have been formed in new centres, but the hope expressed that wherever there is an adult branch there should also be a children's branch has not been fulfilled. But where there are branches they all show signs of life and growth. The subscriptions to the funds have not been quite so much. Last year we had more collections from outside sources. MABEL SEATON.

St. Peter's Community foreign Mission Association Report, 1914.

THE first nine months of 1914 were normal as to contributions, and even when the Bishop decided there should be no Corean sales the income did not at all diminish; indeed, with much appreciative gratitude we warmly acknowledge the splendid help of our members, who contributed the sum of £62 in lieu of the Stall, thus relieving us of all anxiety on that score, and we were able to remit our promised sum of £350 without much difficulty, and moreover incurred no fresh expense. The number of Members of S.P.F.M.A. remains about the same; a new and active branch has been formed at St. Peter's Ouvroir, Hendon, and the members of the other three branches keep up a steady even support in various ways. Meetings have been held at St. Peter's Home, Kilburn: St. Peter's Home, Woking; St. Columba's, Haggerston; and St. Michael's Home, Axbridge. SISTER HELEN CONSTANCE, Secretary, S.P.F.M.A.

Hospital Naval Fund, 1914.

LAST year we commenced our report by congratulating ourselves upon the financial aspect of the year. This year, alas, we have the war upon us and the tale is a different one. However, we must hope this is only temporary and that the result of the war will be to quicken and encourage all that is good, including the interest in Foreign Missions. Our Organising Secretary, who, by the way, talked of resigning his post as far as H.N.F is concerned because he felt the difficulty of keeping in touch with the Service, gallantly volunteered for Service when the war broke out, and has since been on board H.M.S. Vernon. Surely, therefore, he is now of the Service, and his scruples will, we hope, be overcome and we shall continue to have the very great advantage of his assistance and guidance. During the year we have had the great pleasure of seeing the Bishop (in October) and Dr. Laws (in July). Both were able to assure us of the great good our organisation may do in Corea for many years to come, in spite of, or perhaps because of the Japanese occupation. We shall no doubt have the pleasure of seeing Dr. Weir at our next meeting. It is a great thing to hear from their own mouths the impressions of our friends at the front (so to speak). We have other friends very much at the front : notably Sir David Beatty, Sir Thomas Jerram, and one of our oldest and best friends, "Jimmy" Startin. More power to their elbows! During the year we have lost a Vice-President, Vice-Admiral F. St. G. Rich. We are attaching a slip to the cover of MORNING CALM in the hopes of getting much help from offertories, as we must depend largely upon them as time goes on. C. E. BAXTER Hon. Sec. Ex. Com. H.N.F.

The Diocesan Orphanage for Girls.

I do not think subscribers at home realise that there is a Diocesan Orphanage. I have heard it spoken of as a small private affair of the Sisters, as "Sister Nora's little Orphanage," or even as a place where cast-off children are taken in to die. There is never much mention of the Orphanage in MORNING CALM beyond a few words in the Children's Comer. Even some of our most willing helpers at home do not even know where the Orphanage is situated. Not long ago I saw it stated in MORNING CALM that the Orphanage was at Suigen, near Su Won. The writer evidently had not grasped the fact that Suigen is Japanese for Su Won !

The Orphanage for girls was opened about 1900 in a small house in very confined quarters of the Sisters compound work was carried on there until the summer of 1913. During that time the mortality amongst the children was very high, but a fair proportion were educated, brought up, and married into Christian families. I know from personal experience what an influence for good more than one of these young women have exercised upon the villages in which they live; they have kept the Christian women together, and given them much better instruction than the native Mission-woman in her monthly visit has been able to impart.

In 1913 it was decided to move the Orphanage to Su Won, and the orphans, escorted by two Sisters, arrived in July. The change to the country soon made a marvellous difference to the appetites and appearance of the children, and I doubt if, at the present moment, a healthier collection of youngsters can be found in Corea. The Orphanage is built on the slope of a pine-covered hill facing south, so the children have a very extensive playground in the healthiest situation in Su Won.

They are all given a simple but sound education until they are fifteen, and then for a year they remain in the Orphanage learning all things necessary for a wife to know, and doing all the house work, preparing all the food and washing, and remaking the children's clothes. Soon after sixteen they are married into Christian families, and there is no lack of suitors for brides from the Orphanage. The Orphanage is always most spotlessly clean, and this is in itself a lesson to any of the native Christian women who are allowed to see it. At the same time it is a home, a large family, and not simply an institution, and for this reason the numbers are limited to thirty.

Girls who married and went from the Orphanage years ago still look on it as their "pon chip" (real home), and five of them returned at Christmas, some with their babes, in order to spend the festival at Home.

One could give many examples of the help the Orphanage has been to poor widows and widowers; I will content myself with one only. About three months ago a good Christian man, Athanasius, died leaving a widow and five dependants, the eldest son being married. Before the father had been dead a month, the married son died, leaving his mother and wife and three children quite destitute. Sister Nora kindly offered to take the two girls, Salome and Joanna, into the Orphanage at once, where they are very happy and content. If there had been no Orphanage, it is terrible to think of what the fate of these two girls would have been.

Christmastide is always a great time for the Orphanage, and this last year the children had a happier time than ever. Each orphan received a nice present on Christmas Day, and on Holy Innocents' Day, the annual Orphanage Christmas tree party was given, when each girl, including outsiders attending the girls' day school, who had been invited by Sister Nora, received at least two presents from the Christmas tree.

One could write much more about the Orphanage, but the editor's blue pencil looks too threatening for me to continue. Please help the Orphanage as much as you can by your prayers and your offerings C. Y. POO.

The Orphanage Secretary's Report.

THERE are twenty-seven names on the Orphanage list, as against twenty-nine at the beginning of last year. Two were married last Easter, and two died (though on the whole there has been far less sickness at Su Won than when the Orphanage was at Seoul), and four or five girls have gone out to earn their own living. Eight very young people have been added quite lately. The youngest is about three years old, and was found in a village the other side of the district, “with nothing but a few rags on her.” She was being fed from house to house, her father and mother having died and left her with no relations at all. She has been adopted by a new children's branch of A.P.W., and is to be called Ruth. The two who died were Maria and Emma Mary. The latter is the Community orphan, and another child has been christened Emma Mary in her place. Maria was supported by the Rugby K.M., who have kindly consented to pay for Magdalena instead. Martha, or, as the Coreans pronounce it, Maruta, has been adopted by Miss Wylde, Mayfield, Chislehurst, who has promised ₤6 a year. It is very splendid of people to adopt orphans just now, when there are so many ways in which money is wanted. The Reverend J. B. d'Arcy (late Sub-Warden of St. Peter's Home, Kilburn) has promised ₤1 a year either for a child, or for one or other of the Orphanage expenses. Sister Nora writes: "We had a very happy Christmas at the Orphanage ; five of our married girls were able to come and stay. One had walked twenty-five miles to get to the train from the Chin-Chun district; she had heard we were here, and though I had thought she was too far away to ask her, she contrived to ‘come home,' as they all call it.... All their five children were much cleaner and better behaved than ordinary Corean children, so it is a comfort to feel their mothers did learn something at the Orphanage."

MARY SANDERS, Orphanage Secretary.

Annual Report of the Corean Mission.

THE Bishop has furnished the following account of the work of the Mission during the past year for the Annual Report of the S.P.G., by whose kind permission we are permitted to reprint it. The outstanding features of last year's report were the prospects of a Corean ministry, and the need for more priests for adequate staffing of the seven districts in which the Mission works. With regard to the first, the ordination of two Coreans as deacons at Trinity, 1914, marked a great step forward in the life of the Mission. These two men were ordained on the strength of proved character, service well rendered, and universal good repute, but without the long course of training and discipline which will be required of all future candidates. Mark Kim, the senior deacon, was the first convert, baptised about seventeen years ago. He is now engaged in evangelistic work. Barnabas Kou is attached permanently to the Training School at Kanghwa, and Mr. Hodges, the Principal, writes: - "In the short time since the opening of the school he has proved himself a most efficient and pleasant colleague. Being a man of considerable knowledge of Chinese-the scholar type of Corean- the work suits him here in a way that his previous catechist's work never could."

Both these men had spent some months at Kanghwa with Mr. Hodges and Mr. Stanley Smith, who are specially set aside for the Training College work; but the College itself, in old adapted buildings, was not actually opened until May. Since that date there are been eleven students in training. At the close of the second term Mr. Hodges writes:- "There was much to be thankful for in last term. The men have all really deepened ; almost all came up very superficial and knowing little what religion really meant to a man ... they are learning that education does not consist in learning somebody else's opinions by heart and going no further. There are signs of attempts at original thinking, mirabile dictu!"

But with so much reason for thankfulness there is still also cause for anxiety, as the natural weakness of the Corean character makes itself evident in many little ways.

The second feature of last year's report, the need for more priests, is alas ! still painfully before us. A very substantial increase by the S.P.G. of their annual grant makes it possible to support the seven additional priests asked for. But so far there have been no additions to the staff, though it is hoped that this is only a temporary incident due to the influence of the War, and the many claims on priests in England. The position in Corea is not becoming any less serious. Mr. Hewlett was seriously ill for some time, and has taken up work again without adequate time for convalescence. Mr. Dallas has been obliged to return to England by medical advice, and furloughs further denude the staff. The Bishop's short visit to England during the slacker season of the hot weather was extended owing to the difficulties of return across Siberia. But he was accompanied on his return by the Rev. H. Derham Marshall, who, by his arrival in Japan, has set free Mr. Simpson to help in Japanese work in Corea during Mr. Sharpe's furlough.

The work among the Japanese is encouraging. At Seoul, thanks to the zeal of a Japanese Christian lady, there have been many inquiries. At Fusan, the work goes on under Mr. Shiozaki. At Taikyu, another important centre, a Church House has been built, and is already proving its usefulness. The Japanese element at Chemulpo is also not neglected, as Mr. Miyazawa, the newly ordained deacon, makes visits from Seoul.

Taking the seven stations in detail, it is always most difficult to write about the work in Seoul. For a variety of reasons, it is full of difficulties, and lacks the encouragement met with in country stations. But the Bishop is satisfied that there is no real reason for the workers to be disheartened. At Chemulpo, where Dr. and Mrs. Weir have done such excellent work, through the hospital, the parsonage is again occupied after a lapse of many years, as the Rev. H. J. Drake has definitely taken up his abode there.

At Kanghwa there are the two centres - at Kanghwa City itself, and at On Sou Tong. In the City, as has been said above, is the Training College. Here Mr. Gurney is in charge and should be joined by another priest, although the work does not go with such a rush as a few years ago. And even if things are a little slower our clergy have as much as they can manage, until the students training under Mr. Hodges and Mr. Smith are ready to enter the ministry and share in the pastoral and evangelistic work. In the Su Won district the work is much more scattered and sporadic than in Kanghwa, and this fact makes it more imperative that one priest shall not be left single-handed. Here Mr. Bridle and Mr. Dallas worked, until the latter was ordered home by the doctor. At Chin-Chun there are over a thousand Christians in the district, with about a dozen chapelries to be served in addition to the central church. Here, too, is the important hospital where Dr. Laws has worked for some time.

Connected with this centre is another district of Chunan, with large area to deal with, and many Christians to shepherd. The last of the seven stations is Paik-Chun, originally served from Kanghwa. Here a hospital was open for a short time, but it had to be closed when Dr. Borrow took the place of Dr. Laws during furlough.

At all these stations there has been steady progress, the Bishop having held confirmations at several centres during the year. The men and women catechists have been helped to obtain greater efficiency for their difficult task by coming apart for a short time at intervals for study and prayer. Of the educational work there is not much to say. The little village schools go on quietly, and the older and more intelligent boys and girls are doing well at Japanese schools, while they make their home at Mission hostels.

Chemulpo.- Evangelistic work in this port centres round the hospital where Nurse Dodd and Miss Cant share with Mrs. Weir the many opportunities which come to hospital workers among both the patients and the women connected with the Church. "As before, the teaching in the out-patient department and in the hospital is responsible for many becoming Christians. It is with joy and thankfulness one sees a poor, ignorant woman gradually growing into a regular communicant, even though the difficulties and hardships are many that a Corean woman has to undergo.” Fusan. -Here Miss Elrington has had a complete year's work since her return from furlough. Of her work among Japanese women she writes : - "Before I left on furlough there were certain points with regard to the women's meetings which caused me anxiety, such as a tendency to a clique among the rather better off women who would naturally have more common interests. This had produced its natural results in a narrowing of interests, and consequent somewhat stagnant condition of fujin kwai (women's meetings). But I must say, when I pointed this out to the principal offenders, they took the admonition in very good part, and I am sure the best way to manage these people is by pointing out the higher path, rather than by overmuch fault-finding. We have now started a monthly paper of short Intercessions and Thanksgivings in connection with the whole Fusan congregation. I think this plan will be the beginning of a better spirit of mutual fellowship and wider interests. Another point with regard to women’s work is an attempt to encourage them more in the Christian education of their children at home. Every house where there are children has been given copies of ‘Prayers for Children’, and I have some where the mothers do really try to teach their children to pray." Kurose, the young Biblewoman supported by the Canadian Church, who has until late in the year with Miss Pooley worked at Chemulpo, has now joined Miss Elrington. We would ask our readers to remember in prayer a Japanese woman doctor and a young widow, trained as a midwife, who have both been admitted as catechumens, and who, as Christians, will have wide spheres of influence.

Taikyu.-Miss Grosjean, who had previously worked among Japanese in Seoul, has now come to live at this new station. Already some of the Japanese have been instructed and baptised, and it is good to read that, though the priest is at present only able to pay a monthly visit, yet- "All are very earnest and eager to lead others, and everyone is striving to practise their religion in their lives." Kanghwa-On this island the work among Corean women and girls is carried on by Miss France and Miss Packer. Visits are paid to outlying villages, and, where there are no resident catechists and Biblewomen, Christians come at intervals to the city for classes and study, returning to help and instruct their weaker brethren. "We have just completed a five-days' study under Mr. Gurney and the catechists, women coming in from some of the outlying districts and staying the whole time. It has been very encouraging for the lecturers-the great zeal and earnestness shown by all who took part. . . . Persita Kim, the Biblewoman, has a great influence with the women and is a splendid Christian example among them."

Of the school work Miss France writes : - "Three of the older girls left to go to Seoul and live under Sister Isabel, and we hope they will be eligible to be trained as future Biblewomen. We have a Government trained teacher now, and she proved a very capable and trustworthy worker, and, though not a Christian, has a good influence among the children."

Paik-Chun. -The closing of the women's medical work leaves Miss Bourne and Miss Borrowman the only two women workers; but the addition of a trained woman catechist, Paulina Pak, has been a great help. The work has gone on quietly and steadily, the record of five Christian marriages bringing encouragement to the workers. Seoul. - Here the work among Coreans is under the care of the Sisters of St. Peter's, Kilburn, who are in charge of the hostel for Corean girls attending the Japanese school, and who also train Corean women catechists. The Church in Japan has once more shown its practical sympathy with Corea by lending Sakai San for work with Miss Pooley among the Japanese in the capital.

MEDICAL MISSIONS.

Chemulpo.- Dr. Weir left for furlough in the autumn, his place being taken by Dr. Laws. The former writes : - "The great feature of our work this year has been fever. During the early months of the year the admissions of men were just about double what they were at the same time the year before, and nearly the whole of this was accounted for by cases of relapsing fever. Cases simply poured in and out again as fast as they could go. When we first began to get them last year they generally stayed any time up to six weeks in hospital, and had that continued it would have been quite impossible to deal with the numbers coming in any way; but with the discovery of the value of neosalvarsan, it became possible to get nearly all of them out in a few days. On admission, a very sick man with a temperature of about 104 -by evening be perspired profusely, and by next morning he was practically well though rather weak, and a day or two later begged to be allowed to go out and get to work again, which he was nearly always fit to do. Most of these fever cases were men, and the large majority of them coolies living in common lodging-houses, so that there is very little doubt that the disease spread among them there as an epidemic; but there were some from other classes, and later in the year a few cases among women. The one unfortunate thing about this epidemic was the cost of treatment, as a dose of neosalvarsan costs from 4s. or 5s., and though only one dose was needed for a case, when you have over sixty of them in four months it runs up the bills to a terrible extent." Vide also Home Workers' Gazette, June 1914.

Chin-Chun -During Dr. Laws' absence on furlough and at Chemulpo his work is being carried on by Dr. Borrow, assisted by Miss Carswell. The former writes : - "Our patients are nearly all Coreans, but we have a good many Japanese, male and female patients, and a few Chinese men. The Corean patients belong mostly to the poorer classes, and many of them have impressed us again and again by their great poverty and wretchedly dirty conditions and unawakened intelligence: Very many of the patients we see seem to have no ideas as yet on personal and general hygiene and cleanliness. Soap is unknown in the homes of the poorer classes; baths are not even a dream; hot water, towels and other such inducements to cleanliness of house and person, very scantily provided for. One has to be out and in among our in-patients only for a very short time to realise how really’ dirty' most of them are in their ways and persons; and yet it is easy to see that they cannot well be anything else when custom and circumstances have not provided them with the means of being clean. In contrast to many of our patients here the patients at Paik-Chun were, comparatively speaking, well off; they nearly always seemed to have enough to eat and drink, and fairly decent clothes to wear. Destitute cases were very few. Here in Chin-Chun we do not pass many days without seeing some pitiful cases- a man or woman whom you must clothe and feed before beginning to treat them; some come with slight ailments in the hope of being taken in, but more than once we have taken homeless people in extremis who have been brought to us by the police or others, having tramped about, begging their food, till they had no strength to do so any longer, and were picked up on the roadside. This very general poverty naturally entails a heavy additional burden on the finances of the hospital. We experience very little difficulty in getting consent for operation under anaesthetic- a refusal is unusual. They take anaesthetics extremely well, and suffer little or no inconvenience afterwards ; in fact we have sometimes gone in to see a patient an hour or two after operation and found him sitting up attacking a big bowl of rice with huge gusto. They explain apologetically that, having had no breakfast, they could not possibly wait any longer for their food!" Paik-Chun. -On the departure of Dr. Borrow for Chin-Chun early in the year, this work was closed, to the great grief both of the doctor and of the people of the neighbourhood. Under the circumstances of the diocese it will not be possible to reopen it.

Hospital Naval Fund.

Owing to illness and War time, there was no quorum at the Quarterly Meeting of the Executive Committee; but Captain Corfe and myself, after auditing the accounts, had a very interesting talk with Dr. Weir who had kindly come to meet us. Probably, at our meeting in July, he will be able to come again and see more of our members. C. E. BAXTER, Hon. Sec., Ex. Com., H.N.F. CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED DURING QUARTER ENDING MARCH 31, 1915. Rear Admiral Hoe W. G. Stepond, per Re.C.. L. Cowan, RN, Bars, Devonport, EsL; Rew. T. Raw d ay School Boxes) TT, MIR , T. Tal Dockyard Church, Shemes . Rev. L.H.Berry, C . M IL D. Wile, "An Old Anda , 0; J. R. Clark, R. J. Corrad, 1; p Rex. H. S. Wa gh, Deckyard Chunch, Portut Max- JF. D .Grey. It can 1. Pred ( R. W. Stuart Harris, Com A Raval, Cr 18,1 p r . Na Troope Sale od Wort Rev. G. M. Twee Deckand, Hone Kr. 3 d. dal SS. C. Cold, KCB (1 1. S. LD GIC. HE IL Aral Sir M. C REW Aral Sir W. Neux, ( Rev.). Wydett Captain J.H. Ceci, N., Admiral Sr. N. Fremantle, A ura M.P. O Callahan : SIA W Moorra, Admiral the Fleet Sir G . Nol, H. . Rae, Ho Lady Try meal B E Cochin, Brg. A.G.Asto, IM W. . Ca Captais i . H . Rear Amiral M.E.B . Total, 77 1 112 J. H. CORTE, T .

Japanese Work.

I HAVE just remembered in the middle of the long spring country journeys, that all matter for the next MORNING CALM is now due. There is no time to ask for reports from Fusan and Taikyu -indeed only just time to send something myself. However, as Fr. Sharpe is at home in England, some readers will have heard about the Japanese work from him by word of mouth, and that is much better than writing. I have to report that we are still without a resident worker at Chemulpo, either man or woman. No serious effort has been made to get one from Japan, since the hope with which Fr. Sharpe left has not been fulfilled. Moreover Miss Sakai has again been recalled to her own diocese, that of South Tokyo. And it is left to Miss Pooley, the deacon-Miyazawa San-and the temporary priest, to do what they can for Chemulpo from Seoul. The reason for not trying hard to get a Chemulpo catechist just now is that the War might so soon leave us with no money to pay him that it does not seem fair to ask anyone to come. And our Christians at Chemulpo are very sad about it. Chemulpo is on the down-grade in general prosperity, and to a large extent if people come there they are likely to move on again soon. It is a kind of entrance place, as it were, from which they move to other parts of Corea, so that it is not likely that the small number of Christians will permanently increase. However, one young man catechumen has been baptised this year and another admitted to the catechumenate, and there are a few enquirers.

In Seoul, though there are difficulties not a few, I believe they are almost entirely signs of real life, and the work there is very happy. Holy Week was well kept, and we had a splendid Easter. It seems as though we are not likely to gain in membership there much longer by immigration-the tide of Japanese immigration into Corea is slackening very much. But our numbers in Seoul are steadily rising all the same. There are quite a number of enquirers, and a larger increase than usual by means of infant baptisms. As to confirmations, though there are not more than just a few candidates in each place, we are calling on the Bishop to hold Japanese confirmations in four places before the summer. He is going down south for that purpose, both to Fusan and Taikyu, early in May; there will, we hope, be a confirmation in Seoul towards the end of June, and directly afterwards one up north on the banks of the Yahr river, where Corea joins Manchuria.

The distant country visits I have paid since Easter, to give Communion to our scattered Christians, make me long to be able to plant down at least three resident catechists, quite apart from the prior claims of Taikyu and Chemulpo. But I fear these things cannot be yet for a long time.

J. B. SIMPSON. GENSAN, St. George's Day 1915.

Local Notes.

Onsoutong.-Adult baptisms this Lent were few, one male and six females. A few admissions to the catechumenate have been made, so that there is hope that, with these and certain already made catechumens proving faithful, next year will see a larger number of baptisms. There is now a fairly regular increase of numbers through the baptism of children of Christian parents. The Bishop at Mid-Lent confirmed the newly baptised and half a dozen schoolboys. Both the boys’ and girls' schools make headway. The women's work in general seems in a really good way. well witnessed to by the attendances at Sister Edith Helena's week of study. Over eighty women attended, some fifty per cent, regularly at the classes, which were held thrice daily. The women will much feel the absence of Miss France, and not the least Kim Persita. That the latter will continue to manage the work satisfactorily during Miss France's furlough, there is little doubt. Daily services in Holy Week were satisfactorily attended ; fifty to sixty boys and girls coming each day to the Catechism. Good Friday, for some unknown reason, was very badly observed ; though Easter saw large congregations. The Training School.- Kim Moses (Kanghoa) has had to withdraw owing to the demands made on him by his farming. This is sad, as he is a sterling man, and though never one to become deeply learned, would have profited by further training himself, and the other students gained by his presence. Improvements in the compound are striking through the men's efforts in the manual labour periods. As this term closes a year of training, the men are set to the ordeal of a regular examination on the subjects studied. It is good to note a distinct improvement in every way in some of the men ; in others, signs of any very distinct progress, though not wanting, are less marked. Su Won.-Holy Week and Easter services were on the whole well observed. On Good Friday the church was never empty from early morning until late in the evening. Outside the regular services, quite a number of Christians spent a good deal of the day in prayer and meditation. On Easter Eve, after evensong, thirty-one persons, mostly adults, were baptised, and then followed a special service of preparation for Holy Communion. On Easter Day the country people as usual turned up very well, and the church was so crowded that most of our boys and girls had to sit within the sanctuary rails to make more room. The singing was quite good, and over 200 Communions were made. The schools reopened on April 6, with 100 boys and girls. The greater number of the scholars are Christians, and it is hoped that in course of time all will be baptised. One boy, who has attended school for five years, had constantly asked for baptism, but as his parents were not Christians he had to be refused. He has now persuaded them to attend, and they were admitted to the catechumenate, and the boy was baptised on Easter Eve. You will probably have heard that all Christian teaching is to be forbidden in our schools here within the next ten years. Meanwhile school managers are bombarded with forms to be filled up and instructions from the magistrates as to how to carry on the school. The following is a rough translation of the last instruction I received. It refers to the first anniversary of the death of the late Empress of Japan. It was not carried out in our schools. (1) The shrine on Momoyama (the burial-place in Japan of the late Empress) is to be the direction towards which the "worshipping from afar" altar is to face. (2) A platform is to be erected and fenced in. (3) Those who possess them are to wear full uniform and orders, the rest appear in their ordinary dress. (4) The worshipping ceremony is to follow the ritual prescribed for the worship of the late Emperor. Everyone is to offer the tamagushi (the branch of a tree, hung with strips of white paper) or to give a profound bow. (5) Everyone is to wear mourning, or a mourning badge, and place the national flag outside their houses.

The Bishop Turner Memorial fund.

The Spirit of missions.

THE WAR A Letter addressed by the Bishops of the Province of India and Ceylon, assembled in Synod, to the members of the Church of England in India and Ceylon. March 1915. It is thought that the members of the Church in India, on learning that all their Bishops had met together for ten days in Calcutta, would feel it strange if the Bishops addressed to them no word on the subject which is now agitating all men's minds, the great War in Europe. To every Christian man, of whatever race, it is an appalling thought that a war between Christian peoples is possible. Those who owe to each other the love of brethren in Christ are inflicting upon each other misery and suffering and ever regarding each other with fury and hatred. All this is a reproach to the name of Christ, and a proof of the sinfulness of those that are called by His name. But at moments men feel even a deeper trouble about it. Why is it permitted by God? Old as this question is, it disturbs to-day some hearts that have never doubted, and stirs others that have never thought. Does any answer come as we reflect on it before God? God gave to men the power of the will. He risked the misuse of it, because the possibilities of the good will are infinitely great. When we look upon the worst that man can do or has done, we should remember that this is the measure of the good that man might do, and, in dependence upon God, can do. How wonderful must be the good that man might do with his free will, if God thinks it worth while to secure the possibility of that good by allowing man the freedom to do all this evil. All the evil which we see the Christian nations doing to each other to-day should set us thinking what are those infinite possibilities of good which they might be doing to each other if they would. Thus this strife and misery should challenge us to consider what is the nature of the peace and happiness between nation and nation which God intended, and even now our prayer should be for the glorious Christendom which He designed and desires. Then again there is the more familiar thought that, though God permits evil, He is not defeated by it. His own design is that man should freely choose the good. When man refuses, He still counterbalances the evil with the good which it draws out of men. We cannot deny that the very best which we have known in man has been drawn out by suffering and sin. The love of God is most clearly known to us by what He did for a sinful world. The Son of God was made perfect through suffering. It has been the same in the experience of almost everyone. It was for a sufferer or for a sinner that the most beautiful acts that he remembers were done: it was towards such that the most wonderful human affections were displayed. So, too, we may see this horrible evil of the great War producing great examples, new awakening of the finer impulses, new consciousness of truths. It is just as wrong to desire war because of its byproducts as to sin that grace may abound. But we may praise and thank God for the by-products of war, and lifted up ourselves, or seeing others lifted, on to a new level of Christian life or Christian perception, we must pray and strive to make good and to maintain the ground won, and to advance to new spiritual conquests. First, we would call the attention of our people, both English and Indian, to some of these victories of God over evil and through evil. The realisation of what is happening in the War and how it affects those nearest to the fighters must differ greatly for the two races and even for individuals within the races. To some the war is a spectacle, to others an experience; but to all it may be an awakening, a veritable call of God. Let us look at the thousands of English homes which this War has changed outwardly and inwardly. The young men leaving pleasure or business at the call of their country, enduring privations and sufferings in the trenches, it may be returning wounded or meeting a soldier's death in a foreign land; those who stay at home cutting off expenses, refraining from pleasures, working as each can for their country; the mothers and fathers and wives sending away their dearest to the War, full of fears, but willing to surrender all that makes life precious to them, and presently bearing up under the dreaded news with an heroic self-devotion which matches that of him whom they mourn. To all of us this is a vision of a new reality of life, to many an actual experience. Let us cast our eyes back upon the standards of life which were only too common before the War, the hunt for pleasure, the insistence on comfort, the continual increase of luxury, the idolisation of wealth and success. Do we not realise now the futility, the emptiness, even the baseness of those days, as we measure them against the reality and the nobility of the new simplicity and self-devotion ? Where the new spirit has not yet come, let us pray that men and women arrested by the vision of so much real nobility may be ashamed to remain just what they are, and raise themselves to emulate the examples that are before them. And where the new spirit has come, there we appeal to those who now almost without knowing it are lifted so high above their former selves, not to slip back to the lower levels when the strain and excitement of war is over. Save for the nation, save for God, what you have gained in earnestness, simplicity, reality, and self-sacrifice. Let not the future be like the past; let it be better even than the present. Where has the present brought you? May we, as it were, whisper in your car, that you are much nearer to-day than a year ago to One whom, maybe, you had half forgotten? Do those boys of yours in the trenches remind you of the words, “He had not where to lay His head"? How many a man and woman is saying to-day that there is no nobler epitaph than this, " He saved others, Himself He could not save." And of whom were those words first said ? How many a mother and father hears to-day with new emotion words, perhaps formerly disregarded, "God spared not His own son, but delivered Him up for us all." Many of us stand already far nearer to Jesus Christ - we might all of us stand there. Let us speak to Him Who has come and caught us to Himself: let us pray, as we have never prayed, to know Him and the power of His resurrection as well as the fellowship of His sufferings. The power of His resurrection-because the War makes us familiar with death, and calls us to think truly and nobly about it. Too often have men of our time echoed with weary hearts the pagan sentiment, "Death closes all." But when the young die, when lives obviously incomplete are cut off, the thought presses on us with new insistence that this cannot be the end, if there is reason in the universe or love in God. And when the very dying is a good and noble act, and exhibits all the marks of a spiritual advance, then we feel the more certain that God has somewhere where He will perfect the good work that He has begun in those who have been taken away so young. Let us feel that they have had the uncommon lot of dying nobly, but the best is yet to be. Let us commend their souls into the hands of a faithful Creator and most merciful Saviour. With affectionate longing let us follow them into that unseen world whither Jesus Christ has gone before, whither also He has sent them before us, to make it for is not an unknown unattractive country, but a desired home. There is another by product of the War, of which we would also speak. The War has brought to the many races of the Empire a brotherhood in arms; it has stilled the political and social controversies of England; the magic of a common danger has drawn together men between whom every kind of separating force was at work. This unity is a by-product of war; and it may be a temporary one. But the Church has a warfare to wage that is not temporary : a Kingdom to defend and to extend which is to grow for ever. If we admire the rally to the flag of Great Britain, should we not as Churchmen feel shame that we let our differences and divisions stand so long and so obstinately between us and the service of our King? To sacrifice truth for the cause of unity is to blunt the very weapon of our spiritual warfare. But there are many divisions within the Church which are not caused by loyalty to truth. It would be a great day for the Church of Christ if the children of His Kingdom, as they watch the peoples of the British Empire rallying to war, caught from their example the spirit of unity and brotherhood. So far we have followed the hand of God bringing good out of evil, and counterbalancing the failures of some men's misused free will by the new victories which He enables the quickened will of others to gain in dealing with those failures. The by-products of the War in reawakening earnestness, self-sacrifice, brotherhood, and a sense of the value of life and the hope beyond death, have, we believe, brought many of us on to a mount of vision whence we can judge our old life and with God's help begin a new life. But we would now return to the thought that the evil which is being done is the measure of the good which might be done, which God meant to be done. Let us take this first on the national plane. We see the Christian nations of Europe apparently bent on doing as much harm to each other as they can. The Christian tradition has been to make even war humane, but some nations have apparently thrown even that tradition to the winds. Let us weigh these awful facts and then turn and ask ourselves what is that good thing for the sake of which God gave the nations of the world such power over each other? It is the brotherhood or family of nations. God meant the world to consist not only of a brotherhood of men, but of a family of nations. God meant the strong nation freely to respect and to defend the weak. God meant each to live its own life, and by living its own life to enrich the life of the whole world. We Christians of the British Empire have become conscious of this in a new way. As Christians we have searched our heart to see why we are at war. In the shock and surprise of the first plunge into war, probably none of us clearly understood the objects with which our rulers entered upon it. Gradually out of the confusion certain objects emerged. To keep a plighted word, to defend a defenceless nation, to save Allies from destruction, such were the objects which first came clearly into sight. Many Englishmen remained incredulous, whether, as was said by some, our national existence was at stake. But as the proofs of this became clearer, it became clearer also that our national independence could not be preserved or lost alone : the existence of other nations and of all weak states stood or fell with it. Ours was not a private quarrel, it was a common cause. We were fighting not that we might dominate the world, that we might live alone in the midst of the earth, but that we might live our own life and other nations might live their own lives side by side with us. We were dedicating our swords, not to the God of England, but to the God of all the nations of the earth; and now in our prayers we can sincerely beseech Him to restore peace to His family of nations, and to secure to each the liberty with which Christ has made us free. This is the good thing for which God has given the nations power over each other, that they may rejoice to give each other assistance and respect, and secure to each other liberty and true national life. All men alike in this Empire are fighting for this cause. As they fight, so they should let the object for which they fight help them to criticise their past and direct their future. In the past the policy of our Empire has not been free from the stain of deliberate self-aggrandisement or relentless competition. We now feel ashamed of those stains. Let us, so far as we have opportunity, see to it that the future policy of our Empire shall more faithfully follow the ideals for which we are now fighting. The least influential of us may influence the destinies of Empires by prayer. Of all the duties of the Church at this time, none is more urgent than this, to pray and to plead that we may never forget to apply our own ideals to those who are now our enemies. We are fighting for the peace of Belgium, of France, and of Great Britain, in the European family of nations. There must be no thought of attempting, even if it were possible, to deprive Germany of her place in that family. More than that, we must steadily look forward to the time -we hope, a not distant time-when we shall settle down once more to live side by side with Germans in the family of nations, and side by side with them to advance the cause of humanity and the Kingdom of God. This brings us at once to the plane of personal duty. Let no report of “hymns of hate" or even of wanton brutality move us to give up the hope of that co-operation, or awaken in our hearts a response of hate. Let us be angry, and sin not, with that righteous indignation which our Lord Himself is reported to have shown. But let us pray that our anger may be such that, when our enemies repent, it may be soon laid aside, as the Apostle says, "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” And let us also take his other warning and not be led by our anger to give place to the devil, and yield to his ever present temptation to let indignation pass into hatred. This for the present, because our eye must be ever on the future, when the brotherhood of nations is to be restored. From the trenches we hear from time to time stories of the chivalry of enemies in hard-fought fights, which, often before, God has used to create mutual respect and prepare for a better peace. And this preparation of hearts for the coming peace is a very particular concern of the Church in India because we desire that no avoidable feeling or deed or word of ours should make it more difficult after the War to live alongside of the German Missionaries, many of whom have already given long and noble lives to the extension of Christ's Kingdom in this country. Nor can this ideal of God's great family of free nations be without its influence on the policy of the English in India. It has long been in the mind of some Englishmen that England has been allowed to rule India in order to train her peoples in the sense of nationhood and in those principles of government which make national life precious and beautiful. The ideals for which we are now fighting cannot but emphasise such a notion of the purpose of the coming of the English to India. Here again the Church's best contribution will be faithful prayer. We have asked our people to look upon the ruin wrought by the human will gone wrong as the measure of the value of good possible to human will when by God's assistance it goes right. At the same time the hideousness of the results of forsaking the ways of God is sometimes the most direct method of appealing to men to return to those ways. To-day we see on a gigantic scale the results of accepting a teaching which in its most prominent features is a revolt against Christ. This teaching begins with the principle that nothing in the world or out of it has a higher claim upon a man than his country. It goes on to declare that the great object for a country is to be strong: that force is the life of a State: and that force is only created by force: that the duty of the stronger is to impose his will upon the weaker, and that in the process any means are justifiable; might is right. Further, it is pretended that the only way to teach a higher civilisation to less advanced nations is by force. Every part of this doctrine is contrary to some principle of Christ or some element of His character. It may be that some among ourselves have inclined half thoughtlessly towards one or the other of the principles of the Gospel of Force. But now we see it in its extreme form, in its naked horror. The spectacle revolts us. From the Gospel of Force we turn to the Gospel of Mercy, and that is Christ's. From brutality, dishonour, subjugation, we turn to consideration, chivalry, liberty, and they are Christ's. From the pretence of civilisation by compulsion, we turn to the reality of uplifting by persuasion, and that is Christ's. From that which at the best can only be a victory of this world, we turn to the victory of the divine ideas which shall endure for ever, and that is Christ's. By what they have seen and heard, by what they have had burned into their very hearts, we appeal to the people of our Empire to realise who is their Prophet, their Teacher, and their Saviour. The sons and husbands who suffer and die, the wives and mothers who resign them to the cause, as they truly believe, of country and of God, remind us (as we have already seen) of that same Teacher and Example. It may be that some hardly know that they are already on His side, who are already His in act and will. We who are His representatives and spokesmen have pleaded His cause but ill. Many hearts are unwon by us, who ought to have been won for Him, because we have understood them too little and Him too little. But now He pleads with them in His own way-gently in those whom He has taught to resemble Him - awfully in the picture of the results of revolt from Him. May they, and may we all, listen to His pleading and make His cause deliberately our own, and as we have learned, or with admiration seen others learn, how to toil and suffer and die for our country, may we work and suffer for Him Who is the source of all that is lovable in that country and great in its cause. We are speaking to the people of our Church. To them let us say in conclusion that the Church has to find and take its place in this critical time of war, and this it can only do by prayer. Let us pray for vision, that we may more and more see what God is teaching us out of the battle cloud. Let us pray for the fulfilment of the purposes with which God has made the family of nations. Let us pray (as Jesus Christ has taught us) for our enemies. Let us pray for our people that they come to a clear vision of God's will and preserve it as a guiding light for the days to come. Let us pray for all, that Jesus Christ Who in this our necessity has wonderfully made Himself known already to many who hardly heeded Him, may be accepted by all as their merciful Saviour and their rightful King. G. A. CALCUTTA.