Morning Calm v.6 no.66(1895 Dec.)

THE MORNING CALM. No. 66, VOL. VI.] DECEMBER 1895. [PRICE 1d.

The Bishop's Letters.

CHEMULPÓ: August 1895. DEAR FRIENDS,

The history of the past month has been one of floods and sickness. Early in July the persistent absence of rain led us to fear that this would be a year of drought. The heavy and continuous rains which soon followed have dissipated this fear, and given us occasion to fear lest the rice crops should be ruined through rain and lack of sunshine. For ourselves, roofs have leaked and boundary walls have here and there fallen. Notably in the case of the wall surrounding the English cemetery, which has fallen as flat as the walls of Jericho. There has also been a good deal of choleraic diarrhœa amongst the natives and Japanese, which has proved rapidly fatal in a large number of cases. In Seoul Dr. Baldock's hands have been full, especially when it was discovered that he had a certain cholera pill which proved efficacious in many cases. Indeed, I believe it was most successful when, in addition to giving the medicine, he was able to see that the directions as to its use were properly carried out. In my last letter I told you that Mr. Davies had been poorly. He went to stay at Mapó to regain his strength. In this village and neighbourhood the cholera has been very bad. Everywhere straw ropes, with charms attached, were suspended across streets and before houses to drive away the evil spirit; whilst the people in the houses attacked were sent to Coventry by their neigh-bours. Mr. Davies soon found himself the centre of a number of people who sought refuge from the prevailing floods, or medi-cine for their sickness. And in ministering to others he seems to have quite recovered his own health. The river house has consequently been at once a hospital and an asylum. He got also from Dr. Baldock a supply of the requisite pills, and, in as many cases as he could, followed the patients to their houses to see that they obeyed the instructions which were given with them--a matter of extreme difficulty with Coreans, who, when they are really ill, are as ready to die as to live, and will never deny themselves their accustomed pleasures when-ever they have a mind to indulge in them. I have asked him to write some account of his interesting and painful expe-riences during the past month, and hope I may prevail upon him to give you the benefit of them in Morning Calm. In Nak Tong the printing press has been carrying on its opera-tions under difficulties, the Corean assistants having often been absent through their own sickness or that of their friends. But from the amount of “proof” sent down to me to correct I can see that the press is not idle. Mr. Hodge's Bible Class on Sundays still flourishes, and the members of it not only look forward to Sunday as the day on which they are taught, but, I hear, put on clean clothes (their Sunday best, in fact) on that day because it is Sunday. The Sisters have been taking a short holiday “in watches,” and have accepted the kind hospitality either of Mr. and Mrs. Callwell in Kang Hoa, or of Mr. and Mrs. Meyer, our constant friends in Chemulpó. One of them has ventured as far as Chefoo, in the hope of getting a steamer to take her to Niu Chwang, where a short visit to the Doxats will be as delightful to them as it will be to herself. Before this reaches you my agreement with Miss Cooke will have ter-minated. Under the new conditions of the women's hospital. which is now known as St. Peter's Hospital, Miss Cooke con-tinues to give her services as medical officer. I must not, however, let her agreement with me come to an end without telling you how deeply indebted I am to her for her four years' work--of beginning and carrying on amidst many difficulties the women's dispensary and hospital. When I see the Sisters of St. Peter endeavouring to make this work permanent, and Mrs. Bishop recognising its need and its value so fully as to give us a large new wing to make it better, I cannot but remember that this would simply not have been possible but for the four years pioneer labours of Miss Cooke. During the last month I seem to have been leading a very idle life down here. It was necessary for someone to be in Chemulpó during the summer, and it was impossible to disturb Mr. Davies or Mr. Warner in their duties. The latter has been in Kang Hoa, very busy dealing with the various people who have come to him in consequence of the distribution of his tracts. Very unsatisfactory, of course, many of these “cases” are, and must be for some time, until the people are quite convinced that there is no money to be made out of us, as a condition of their consenting to be taught Christianity. Poor Mr. Warner is alternately elated and depressed. But who is not--both in the foreign and home mission field--when he thinks he has got what he so greatly desires, only to find that the human heart is, after all, desperately wicked? With regard to two of these inquirers, he has better ground for hoping that they are sincere. They are neighbours, are educated, and “any monetary motives on their part are out of the question.” Mean-while he is working hard at the translation of catechisms and the composition of familiar tracts, which are sent on to me for inspection before going to Seoul to be printed. This has been my principal work during the past month—this and the transla-tion of the Prayer Book at which I am making an attempt. What a weight of MS. to be revised will be placed on Mr. Trollope's shoulders when he returns! Dr. Landis has just received a well-merited compliment from the Chinese Govern-ment in recognition of his humane efforts this time last year to save the lives of the soldiers and sailors of the Chinese man-of-war destroyed by the Japanese, some 40 miles to the south of Chemulpó. He is now decorated with the Imperial Order of the Double Dragon. In conclusion, we are all well, and seem, at last, to have a chance of getting our houses and our clothes dry. With much love I am, your affectionate C. J. CORFE.

II.

CHEMULPÓ: September 1895. DEAR FRIENDS, This has been an uneventful month, with a record of little beyond steady hard work. Mr. Warner at Kang Hoa has had several inquirers who seem to be more in earnest. At least, they do not ask for money or places. Moreover, one or two are educated men who can read well and appreciate the Chinese of Lumen. For these, as for other inquirers, I hope, yet to come, Mr. Warner has been preparing more tracts, this time partaking rather of the nature of treatises on Christian Doctrine. He has sent them on to me for supervision and, if necessary, revision; and as I finish each page I send it up to Mr. Hodge, who thus has his hands full of work for the Mission. At no time so much as at the present have we seen the advantage which the printing press is to us. Towards the end of the month Mr. Warner was persuaded by me to take a trip into the country; an excellent opportunity having been afforded of his accompanying Mr. Willis, of the Consulate, on a walking tour. He sadly needs a thorough change, and I hope that this expedition will set him up for the hard campaign which lies before him this winter. I shall insist on his telling you something about his journey, which is sure to be full of interest. For myself, I have been in Chemulpó with my teacher nearly all the month, occupied every day with translation work. The Corean autumn--most lovely of all seasons in this country-- has set in with splendid regularity. Nearly all my day is spent out of doors, where I work and have my meals, only going in doors at bed-time. On the 19th I walked to Seoul to see how things were going in our two mission houses there. Work was slack at the hospitals, for which I was thankful. It is rare for either doctors or nurses to get a spell of easy work. The Sisters had just found another orphan-this time a boy. He was picked up by a Chinaman in the street, who brought him to the Sisters' Chinese cook--a Christian, you remember—who at once handed him over to the Sisters. The little fellow--who appears to be about nine months old--was baptized by Mr. Davies on St. Matthew's Day, and received the appropriate but very un-Corean name of Ma-Téi-O. Miss Cooke has accompanied some friends in Seoul on a journey to Japan, where she will get a much-needed rest. The printing press is, as I said, busy, and Mr. Hodge has his hands full. Mr. Davies has asked me to furnish him with some prayers which he can use every morning and evening with the patients. The principal things I have had to remember are that the patients are heathen and probably antagonistic to Christianity, and, finally, that they are confined to bed, and so are compelled to listen. Perhaps one day Mr. Davies will let you see these prayers in Morning Calm in their English dress. I spent only a short week in Seoul and returned to Chemulpó to my work. I have had much assistance from Dr. Landis, whose knowledge of Chinese and vernacular Corean has been of the greatest benefit to me in making these prayers and revising Mr. Warner's tracts. St. Michael's had a very joyful festival on the 29th. One of the Sisters, who came down to stay with some friends for her health, made the church look bright with flowers, and added one more to our very small number of communicants.

We are all well, rejoicing in the peace and quiet which now for so long have been our lot in Corea, but wondering very much into which of the many pitfalls round her the country is going to be precipitated at last. The end cannot be far off now. Thankful, however, that we missionaries enjoy a security which is denied to our brethren in China, we want to rise to a higher sense of the responsibilities which this security involves. Pray that it may be so, asks your affectionate C. J. CORFE.  

Association of Prayer and Work for Corea.

WE are glad to welcome in our lists this month the appearance of a new Cornish locality. At Ladock, where through the Rev. S. J. Peake the Mission in Corea is already well known, Miss E. Michell has just most kindly undertaken to act as the first Secretary of a branch of the Association. It is with great regret that we announce the resignation of the post of Secretary by Mrs. Hurford, who at Stoke Newington has been one of our most earnest helpers from the very first, and who, rather than the work should suffer, has held on to it for long in spite of the ill-health which now, we are sorry to say, obliges her to give it up. Stoke Newington has been so important a centre of our Association that it has so far always had two secretaries, and we feel sure that now the Rev. A. B. Littlewood will not allow the work to fail, while Mrs. Hurford's letter of resignation con-tains a most kind promise of continued help, though no longer as a secretary, and we may hope that the working parties, &c., for which Stoke Newington has been famous in the past, will be equally devoted and successful in the future. Speaking of working parties, we have something to say con-cerning Mrs. Dalison's announcement in our November number. This year, as all know, it has not been found possible to organise any large central sale for the Mission. The proceeds of sales in several localities have been received, and here we must grate-fully mention the sum of ￡12. 9s. 5d., sent in the other day by our Great Yarmouth Secretary as the most excellent result of a sale got up by Mrs. F. Burton, Miss Waters, and other ladies, and held at Great Yarmouth on October 23rd. Nothing can be more satisfactory than such local sales for Corea, or Mission sales in which Corea has a part share, and several smaller sums thus realised make a much larger total than is realised by a single large sale. But there are many friends of the Mission who can individually give work, and many localities where working parties are held, but where a sale is impossible: so that, while we should be very sorry that any locality which can hold even a small sale of its own should give that up to work for a central sale, it is desirable that every year at least one large sale should be held, for which as many as possible would work. Mrs. Dalison has kindly promised to hold such a sale next year at Hampton Court, and it is believed that a good deal can be done to ensure success by some organisation of the work for that or other sales. The General Secretary has therefore ap-pointed Miss H. Wigram, Needlework and Sale Secretary.   Miss Wigram has been in communication for some time past with many of our workers who have been making the Corean garments for the Hospital in Seoul, and she will still require some made for a spring box for Corea, but, at least until we have received another letter on the subject from Sister Nora, this should not employ nearly all our own workers, and they will, no doubt, be glad of a rest from the troublesome peculiarities of Corean costume. Miss Wigram, who will always know what is being made and what is still wanted to go to Corea, will then, after consultation with Mrs. Dalison, prepare a list of proposed stalls at the forthcoming sale, as, e.g. 1. Stall for children's clothing. 2. Clothing for the poor. 3. General useful articles. 4. Dolls, &c. 5. Art sketches, wood-carving, photographs—and of the various articles and approximate number of each article required to furnish each stall. She will then be very grateful if individual workers and managers of working parties, such as are referred to above, will write and consult with her as to what they will undertake, in order that sufficient supplies for each stall may be secured. It is not meant, of course, to lay down any rule that any one stall should be worked for by each working party, though probably it would be helpful if each would undertake to furnish several articles, e.g. Children's frocks in different colours and sizes, cut on one good pattern. In these days of innumerable sales, it is very evident that to make a sale a cause of satisfaction to both sellers and buyers it cannot be too well supplied with really useful and really well-made goods. New patterns and suggestions, as to novelties of any sort which might be passed on, will be gratefully received by Miss Wigram, and if all who propose to get up a sale for Corea, whether large or small, would communicate with her, and would give her the benefit of their experience as to the furnishing of stalls, &c., they would greatly assist in the carrying out of this organisa-tion of sale work, which, should it receive the approval and co-operation of our kind workers, will, we hope, in time prove of real service. We are the more anxious that all that can be done in this direction should be done, as it seems likely that during the next few months demands will be made upon our funds which they are not at present in a condition to meet. We are glad to hear of a Drawing-room Meeting, addressed by Mr. Trollope, at Loughton, Essex, on October 17th, and to receive the following report of a meeting at Kennington from Miss Wigram: “On October 24th, in the Parochial Hall of St. John the   Divine, Kennington, a lecture, illustrated by magic lantern slides, was given by the Rev. M. N. Trollope. The room was well filled with children and others, and one and all seemed very interested in hearing about the Coreans, their country, manners, customs, and mode of living, and last, but not least, about the Mission work carried on out there. Mr. Trollope represented the great need of more helpers for the work in Corea, and pointed out how difficult it was to make any progress in the Mission work with so few to carry it on. At the end of the lecture a great many new members were enlisted for the Associa-tion of Prayer and Work." We have also just heard with great pleasure, from the Rev. Edward Corfe, that on Sunday, November 10th, he preached for S.P.G., with special reference to Corea, at Gloucester, in All Saints', the Cathedral, and in St. Luke's. On Monday, the 11th, he gave an address at the Annual S.P.G. Meeting in the Guildhall on the Corean Mission. The box of Corean cos-tumes, &c., had been sent to Gloucester for the occasion, and the members of the Gloucester Branch of this Association will have been especially interested in seeing its contents, and in hearing Mr. Corfe, while, as he says, “we may venture to hope that the story of Corea has helped to deepen the general interest in, and love for, Christian missions abroad." This is just what the Bishop would wish. Miss Trollope, of Beckenham, asks that a kind donation of ￡3 sent to her, and bearing the Yarmouth post-mark, may be acknowledged here with grateful thanks, as, it being anonymous. she is unable to send a receipt. The subjoined paragraph, addressed to members of the Children's Branch, has been received from Mrs. Goodenough. M. M. CHAMBERS HODGETTS, Exeter, October 11th, General Secretary.

CHILDREN'S BRANCH.

THE Bishop has suggested to our children associates that they should give one of the cots in the new hospital for women and children. This proposal was forwarded to all our children associates and subscribers, and two have responded in a way which will probably suffice for the purchase of a cot of some kind. The special subscription for the cot will be kept open till the end of the year; after that, any contributions to the cot will go into the general children's fund, from which we shall support both the special cot and the orphans at Chemulpó as long as our means will allow. The contributions generally this year have not been equal to those of last year. The cot will be called “The Cot of the Friend of Little Children," a name which will be in agreement with Corean thought and language, an abstract idea being most suited to the Corean mind. The name of the “Good Shepherd” had been thought of, but as neither sheep nor shepherds are found in Corea, it would have been difficult to draw from that name the thought and teaching which are familiar to us. If any children wish to contribute to getting a better cot than we can now afford, or to the expenses of sending it out, they are asked to send their gifts before Christmas to Mrs. Goodenough, Hampton Court Palace.

Correspondence.

DEAR MR. EDITOR, Will you kindly allow me to inform your readers that in future the Morning Calm is to be issued every quarter instead of every month? We have come to this decision with some reluctance, but without any hesitation, for the following reasons. In the first place, we hope that a quarterly issue will bring fresh interest to our work, as we believe the circulation will be considerably increased when the Magazine is enlarged and improved. Such improvement we can confidently promise, as our opportunities for receiving communications from Corea, and of obtaining help from friends at home, will be much greater than they are at present. We hope also to decrease very materially the heavy expense which hitherto has fallen upon the general funds of the Mission. As our work developes in Corea, our need of money becomes greater, and we are bound to retrench in our home expenditure wherever we can without lessening the efficiency of our organisations. I feel sure I shall not appeal in vain to your readers to help us in this matter by obtaining for us a largely increased number of subscribers for our quarterly Morning Calm. I am, yours truly, C. E. BROOKE, General Commissary. 125 Vassall Road, S.W.  

The Spirit of Missions.

"WE ought to feel that we owe some token of our thankfulness to God for His mercies to ourselves. We have received largely and bountifully. We are accustomed to think that to no other people has God given the light of His truth more fully, and with less mixture of error. In this we are all concerned; we are all partakers. Partakers therefore we ought all to be, according to our power, in the attempt to spread that light farther. And indeed, small as are now the beginnings of that work, and trying to faith, as it seems in our day, we know not what great things we are doing when we are laying the foundation of Christ's Kingdom in some heathen land. No missionary undertaking in heathen countries now could be more unpromising than was the attempt to plant the Gospel here in England, and we see what this has come to. Shall we be less liberal, shall we have less faith in our cause, shall we be less able to look forward and foresee the final success, through many failures, and after long disappointments, than were those who in darker ages, and through greater difficulties, yet believed that they were not throwing away their pains in sending us the Gospel? --Dean Church.

The following account of the triennial meeting of women delegates from all parts of the American Church, in order to make a united offering for missionary work, is taken from the New York Church Mission News. The meeting was held on October 3rd, at Christ Church, St. Paul, Minnesota. The sum collected a mounted to fifty-four thousand dollars :-- “Early in the day were seen wending their way those intent upon reaching Christ Church in time for the opening service at 9.30 AM.. The church was filled to overflowing, all hearts aglow with the spirit of enthusiasm, born of the great occasion, and in full sympathy with the hymns and prayers and splendid address of that great apostle of all missionary effort, Bishop Whipple, who urged that as we ‘gave our offerings, so we should first give ourselves.’ He thanked the women for their presence to a land where, only about forty years ago, there was neither bishop, nor priest, nor church, and now was ready to welcome this great body of workers, by whose prayers, sympathy and gifts they were to-day so strong. The United Offering was then made, four of the clergy taking it up. The vast congregation arose at once and joined in the beautiful hymn, ‘Holy offerings, rich and rare.’ Over and over again arose the rich refrain :-- On Thine altar laid, we leave them ; Christ present them! God receive them, as one by one the bags were received that contained the several amounts of money which had been gathered with patience and much self-denial which made them so consecrated, each tell-ing in some distinctive way from whence it came, the ‘eel-skin’bag from Alaska, the lace and silk bag made by Miss Carter's Indian women (as well as the badges worn by the Minnesota officers), others simply telling the name of each diocese, but holding its rich offering of self-denial and love, while from their far-off sisters of China and Japan came their offering in a Turushiki made by a heathen girl for her Christian friend, with a cross, the symbol of her faith, embroidered in gold on crimson cloth, a symbol, too, of that peace which now reigns between those great empires.”

The Rev. G. H. Westcott contributes a most instructive paper on Missionary Educational Work in North-West India to the Mission Field for November, The importance of the Mission Schools can hardly be over-estimated, for in them alone can sound moral training be given on its only true basis—that of religion. The Government of India is pledged to a policy of religious neutrality, and this renders very difficult the task of imparting adequate moral teaching in its own schools. But in the Mission Schools not only morality is taught, but Christ, the Life as well as the Example. By means of them it is possible to reach the boys belonging to classes which could not otherwise be reached, and the influence of Christian teachers is brought to bear upon boys and growing youths just when they are most impression-able, and is all the stronger because the teacher of religious truth is also the teacher of secular subjects and the friend of the boys in all the other departments of school-life. At present the supply of Christian teachers is so limited that the Mission Schools are compelled to employ a majority of non-Christian teachers, at least in Northern India. A train-ing college is greatly needed, and also a greater realisation of the truth, that to teach in a mission school is as really mission-ary work as any.

The last Occasional Paper of the Diocese of Qu'Appelle con-tains an account of the dedication of the new church at Indian Head. The church is the gift of Lord Brassey; and similar gifts to the foreign missions of the Church might well be made by other rich men. “The church, which is dedicated in the name of St. John the Divine, is a very attractive little edifice of Gothic design, constructed of wood and a substantial foundation of solid masonry. The nave, about 36ft. by 28ft., with open timbered roof, has seating capacity for one hundred persons.   The chancel is raised three steps above the nave, and is divided therefrom by a dwarf screen of panelled woodwork; it contains the prayer-desk, lectern, and seats for the choir. The chancel is of apsidal form lighted from the sides. The altar, open-panelled, and, unlike the other altars in the diocese, only five feet long, being raised two steps above the floor, is in full view from all parts of the church. Looking towards the altar the organ chamber is on the right of the chancel and the vestry on the left. The octagonal belfry and spire are built over the latter, and have been arranged to receive a peal of tubular bells, which it is hoped the congregation will have at some future time. The basement affords ample space both for the heating apparatus-- the church is to be heated by hot air--and the winter's supply of fuel. The seats and interior fittings are constructed of Douglas fir from British Columbia, and harmonise both in design and material with the general character of the building."

It is very satisfactory to know that the visit of the Bechuana chiefs, Khama, Sebele, and Bathoen, to this country has resulted, among other things, in the promise of the Government that—“White man's strong drink shall not be brought for sale into the country now assigned to the Chiefs, and those who attempt to deal in it or give it away to black men will be punished. No new liquor license shall be issued, and no existing liquor license shall be renewed. The Queen's officer will have one or two officers with him to help him, and he and they will have a few white mounted men to carry their messages and do their bidding. There will also be a force of black mounted police, who will be men not addicted to strong drink, and who will be employed in seeing that the law against strong drink is not broken and that peace and order are maintained. But the Chiefs themselves must give help if the law against strong drink is to prevail, especially if their own people try to break it.”

In connection with the seventh Annual Report of the Jerusalem and the East Mission, which has just been issued, our readers will be interested to see the following letter from the Rev. Joseph Jamal, who for several years has given help in the religious instruction of the Women's Classes at the Mission Home at Jerusalem :-- “Jerusalem : September 20, 1895. “Twice a week an opportunity is afforded me of reading a portion of Scripture and speaking about the one thing needful to the women who attend the sewing class. The hall in which the class is held is orderly, and the women (who are composed chiefly of the Arabic-speaking sects--such as Yemenites, Syrian and Native Jewesses) are more and more attentive listeners to the Word and the Message of salvation, often asking questions and speaking among themselves or what they have heard. The prejudice against the name of Jesus is not only settled in a remarkable manner, but also it has become a matter of fact, as expressed repeatedly and very often by many of them, that they come, not for the sake of the little wage they receive for their work, but simply for the purpose of hearing the Scripture read and explained. Most of them are of the surrounding colonies, and live a good distance from the Home. When we remember how rough, wild, and quarrelsome most of them were in bygone days, we see the great change and think that only the Holy Spirit has brought it about. Their behaviour at the Scripture lessons and at repeating the Lord's Prayer is such that one would think that they were Christian women. It is evident, from the following instance, that the Christian instruct-tion given at the Home is not only taken in, but also spoken about at their homes. Some weeks ago a Jew, after attending church service on a week-day morning, introduced himself to me by saying that he was the husband of a woman who was attending the late Miss Blyth's sewing class. He went on saying, that his wife used to relate to him every time all that she heard about religion, and especially the claims of Jesus of Nazareth to the Messiahship. ‘The New Testament which she got from you I have read with interest, and we both agree to become Christians. We are sure that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, the Son of David.’ “An instance of this kind is very encouraging, as showing that the work of the Holy Spirit is going on in their hearts. “One of the greatest hindrances here—besides the constant prohibitions of the Rabbis-is the ‘fear of man’. Many Jews would confess the faith publicly were they not deterred by fear of being exposed to mockery and persecution by their neigh-bours and relatives. May the time soon come when the thick veil shall be removed from their hearts, and they acknowledge the Saviour they neglected so long.”