Morning Calm v.3 no.28(1892 Oct.)

THE MORNING CALM.________________________________________ No. 28, VOL. III.] OCTOBER 1892. [PRICE Id. ________________________________________ The Bishop's Letter. CHEMULPÓ: June 1892. DEAR FRIENDS, On the 7th of this month the room in St. Mark's Mission House, Niu Ch'wang, which I set apart as the temporary chapel, was used for the first time. Two little English children, recently left motherless, were brought to me to be baptized ; and, though the room was not yet furnished as we intend it to be, we were able to perform the service in a very orderly and reverent manner. Our first baptism in Manchuria! The first, please God, of many ! I forget whether I told you last month that I heard at Niu Ch'wang of the departure from England of the two new members of our Mission Staff. In order that I might be in Chemulpó to receive them I wrote to ask Mr. Pownall to come and relieve me. On the 20th he arrived, and two days after 1 left for Corea. At Chefoo I was intercepted by kind friends who in their hospitable house gave me a rest and change, which, oddly enough, I needed in spite of my luxurious surroundings in Niu Ch'wang. This break in my journey enabled me to see Bishop Scott, who arrived from Peking and gave me two days of his valuable time and counsel. You will easily understand that these opportunities of consulting with a brother bishop are exceedingly prized by me who have so much to learn. However, I reached Chemulpó before my travellers, and was delighted to find H.M.S. Swift in harbour. A long day was spent on board with Captain Kirby, a very old friend, who gave me ample opportunity of making the acquaintance of new friends, both in the ward room and on the lower deck. But alas! she left the day but one after my arrival in Chemulpó ; not, however, without having given us substantial reasons for being grateful for her welcome visit. I cannot tell you how gratifying it is to me personally to see the interest taken both by officers and men, when a chance visit to Corea has enabled them to inspect our hospitals and the medical work for which we are so largely indebted to them   126 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ The next Japanese mail-steamer from Nagasaki brought us Mr. W. Smart and Mr. W. J. Hodge, who left England on May 13. The former, I am sorry to say, was poorly, and had evidently suffered considerably during the voyage, which at this season of the year is trying. The few days' rest he has had under the care of Dr. Landis seems already to have done much for him, and I am able to report him better, in excellent spirits, BUDDHIST MONKS AND NOVICES. and, apparently, well content with his surroundings. Mr. Hodge is the first man sent to us by Mr. Kelly, in whose house he has been trained since it was opened in January 1891. He is going to devote himself, for the present at all events, to the printing-press, with which he has a practical acquaintance. Our friend Mr. Scott has an important MS, which is to be entrusted to us as soon as we are ready for it. I have great hope that the credit won for the press last year by Mr. Peake will be maintained this   THE MORNING CALM. 127________________________________________ year by Mr. Hodge, who, I should add, arrived in excellent health and eager for work. The rains in Corea have not, as yet, been very abundant this summer. The heat, on the other hand, is great. The thermometer has lately been ranging between 90° and 95°: at Chefoo it stood one day at 104°. Accounts from Seoul assure me that, in spite of the heat, all are well, both at Nak Tong and at the Advent. Letters and papers have now reached me giving full details of the first Corean Festival on May 3. What can I say? What can I do in acknowledgment of all that you then said and did for us? Nothing more, I am afraid, than the old word, “Thank you,” which, however, gets to have a fuller meaning every day when I say it to you ; and as to deeds, you will be well satisfied, I know, if we go forward more bravely, more faithfully, more unselfishly, in answer to your prayers. May God, “without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy,” enable us both to will and to do, and to persevere to the end. You will not fail to remember in your prayers our two new-comers, and the important new work of the Mission which will begin with their arrival. With my love and blessing to you, I am always, Your affectionate friend,

• C. J. CORFE.

We are able to give the following extract from a private letter of the Bishop, dated August 3: - “The ordination of Mr. Davies had to be postponed from Trinity in consequence of my enforced absence from Corea. We were eight in all, four clergy and four laymen ; everything went off well, and even the summer moderated something of its heat, and it has been very hot this year. The Sisterhood in Seoul is finished and ready for the Sisters whenever they choose to come ; likewise Canon and Mrs. Doxat's house ; likewise the new Church of the Advent-all done by Mr. Trollope, whom I have sent to Niu Ch'wang for a month. He will relieve Mr. Pownall, and have a most desirable change and rest. He has been working very hard. The rest of us keep well. Since my return to Corea I have not been to Seoul. I am not sorry for my own sake, because Seoul is very hot and full of mosquitoes, whereas we are cool here. On account of the heat in Seoul, too, I am not in a hurry to send Mr. Hodge to the printing-press.   128 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ He is eager to begin, but it is easy to run down-hill this weather in Corea and very difficult to get back again.” Note. ON the sixth Sunday after Trinity, July 24, at the Mission Church of St. Michael's and All Angels, Chemulpó, Corea, Maurice Wilton Davies, of St. Boniface Missionary College, Warminster, was ordained Deacon. The ordination sermon was preached by the Rev. L. O. Warner. Association of Prayer and work for Corea. MISS CHAMBERS HODGETTS is resuming her work as General Secretary of the Association about the end of September. Once more all communications should be addressed to her at Rowancroft, Heavitree, Exeter. I have received the pleasant sum of £10. 9s. 3d. for the general fund of the Mission, the result of a Sale of Work at Hampton Court Palace. Mrs. Dalison has kindly sent the following account: - The “Sale of Work and other Articles,” in connection with Mrs. Maximilian Dalison's Hampton Court Palace Working Society, took place on August 10, in the Conservative Hall, East Molesey. The stall-holders were as follows :-Daisy Stall, Mrs. M. Dalison ; Working Society's Stall, Miss Mager, Miss May, &c. ; Fancy Articles, Ornaments, &c, Maximilian Dalison and Frank Stirling ; Childrens Stall, Miss M Fletcher, Miss H. Chamberlain, May Forbés (in absence of Joan Dalison, through sudden illness) ; Jumble Stall, Mrs. Jack and others ; Refresh-ment Stall, Mrs England Music was played and singing at intervals throughout the afternoon, but until the evening the number of buyers was small. Mr. Moore kindly undertook an Auction Sale in the evening, which was most successful, and the “Jumble Stall” was a special feature of the day. The expenses, including the hire of the hall, printing, ad-vertising, hire of tables, cleaning, and material bills, &c., amounted to £15. 5s. 1 3/4d., after paying which we have been able to hand over £10. 9s. 3d. to the General Secretary, Miss Chambers Hodgetts ; and after deducting the children's share of the expenses, £4. 8s. 1 1/4d. was handed over to Mrs. Goodenough by Joan Dalison, making a total for the funds for the Corean Mission, as a whole, the sum of £14. 17s. 4 1/4d.   THE MORNING CALM. 129________________________________________ It must be borne in mind that as a “Working Society” we are still very young-in fact, only in our second year ; but as the amount made this year shows an increase of about £9 on the profits of last year's sale, although our expenses were heavy this year, I think we may take heart, and go to work again this winter with a will, for if the yearly sums made at our annual Sale of Work increase in this proportion, we may in time hope to attain a most respectable height of success ! The following ladies kindly sent contributions:-many kind jumble stall and other gifts from Hampton Court Palace, Mrs. de Wette, Mrs. Chapman, Mrs. Till, Mrs. Vesey, Miss Fitz Roy, Mrs. G. Laurence, Mrs. Deedes, Mrs. Fowler, Mrs. Wallington, the Misses Plimtey, Miss Welsh, Miss Chambers Hodgetts, Miss Adams, Mrs. Reeve, Miss Gorton, Mrs. Mills, Mrs. Robert Fisher, Mrs. Wyche, &c., &c. Miss Mager again deserves special mention for her inde-fatigable zeal and energy in working for the Society ; upon her falls the anxiety of cutting out and fixing of the work, and most thoroughly and efficiently does she fulfil the task. I am obliged to spend this next winter, like last, away from Hampton Court Palace, on account of my children's delicacy, but I hope that the working meetings will still continue, and the interest in the Mission be maintained as heretofore. Hampton Court Palace, GRACE DALISON. September 2, 1892. Mrs. York hopes to have a Sale of Work at Gosport in December. She has asked me to insert the following message of thanks : “Gosport Working Guild.-Mrs. Gransmore and Mrs. York beg to thank the ladies who have so kindly sent a valuable parcel of clothing and fancy articles through their Local Secretary, Mrs. Elliot, of Tenby." LILIAS NAPIER TROLLOPE, General Secretary pro tem. for the Association of Prayer and Work for Corea. St. Peter's foreign Mission Association. THE Secretary would be grateful if members of the London Branch who have not paid their subscriptions for 1892 would kindly send them to her, to 48 Pont Street, S.W., between the 1st and 8th of October. The financial year ends on October 31, and she is anxious to have the accounts in time to get the report out early in November.   130 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ Members will be interested to know that the five Sisters of St. Peter's Community and Nurse Webster sailed from the Albert Docks in the Carthage on Thursday, September 1. Many who will think of the Sisters and pray for them on their long journey to Corea will like to know that they hope to reach Colombo, where they change boats, by September 27 ; Penang, October 3; Singapore, October 5 ; Hong Kong, October 12. Leave Hong Kong October 14, reach Nagasaki October 19, and go on to Chemulpó about October 22. Miss F. Robertson-Macdonald thinks that those who so kindly helped her in supplying books for the Sisters of St. Peter's Community going to Corea will be interested to hear that fifty volumes-theological, miscellaneous, and for reference-have been procured and sent out. The Sisters are most grateful for them and will value them highly. A list of the donors accompanied the books. The Spirit of Missions. “MAY the grace and charity of Christ our Lord always help and favour us all. “We arrived in Japan, by the favouring help of Almighty God, on August 15 [1549], having set out from Malacca on the Feast of S. John Baptist at evening. We put into Cagoxima [Kagoshima, in Kinshin], which is the home of Paul of the Holy Faith*; and there we were most kindly received, both by Paul’s relations and friends and also by the rest of the people of the place. And now we will tell you what we have learnt about Japan, so far as we have seen it yet. In the first place, the nation with which we have to do here surpasses in goodness any of the nations dis-covered in modern times. I really think that among uncivilised nations there can be none that has more natural goodness than the Japanese. They are kindly in disposition, by no means given to covetousness, eagerly desirous of honour and rank. Honour with them is placed above everything else. There are a great many poor among them, but poverty is not a dis-grace to anyone. They have a great many observances of courtesy among themselves. They highly value arms and weapons, and rely upon them very much. High and low alike wear sword and dagger always-even boys of fourteen years of age. They never bear an insult in word or deed. The common people pay great respect to the nobles, and they, in turn, wait on the kings and daimios and obey their word. And this they seem to me to do rather from their desire to be honourable than out of fear, lest by not behaving so they should lose anything of their own dignity. They are moderate and frugal in eating, but not in drink ; their wine is made of rice, for indeed here there is no other. They abhor gambling and dice as things highly disgraceful ; they seldom swear, and, when they do, it is by the sun. Most of them can read, and this is a great help to them in understanding our daily prayers and the chief points of our holy religion. They have but

• The first Japanese convert to Christianity whom he had made in India.

  THE MORNING CALM. 131________________________________________ one wife. There are few thieves among them, and this on account of the severity of the punishments inflicted for theft, as all thieves are put to death. Of all the nations I have ever seen, I never saw any, either Christian or heathen, so averse to theft. They are wonderfully inclined to all that is good and honest, and are extremely eager to learn. They listen with great avidity to discourses about God and holy things, especially when you do not speak beyond their comprehension. They do not worship any gods under the form of beasts. Most of them venerate certain ancient men, who, so far as I can learn, used to live after the fashion of the old philosophers : most of them worship the sun, some the moon. They listen willingly to things consonant with nature and reason ; and, although they are by no means entirely free from crimes and evil practices, yet, if you show them that their sin is contrary to reason, they readily acknowledge their guilt and obey the law of reason. Two things here, indeed, altogether astonish me : one is, that the most abominable vices are thought nothing of-and this has come about by the fault of their ancestors, who have left to their posterity the example of such foul lust ; and the other thing is, that, though the bonzes lead more depraved lives than the rest, and all know this, yet they are still held in much honour by them. “Yet the one thing I especially wish you to know, in order that you may give great thanks to God, is that this island is well fitted and prepared to receive the Gospel. If we all knew the language, I do not doubt that a great many Japanese would become Christians. God grant that we may soon know it well ! as we have already, for some time, begun to understand it. For, in these six weeks, by God's favour, we have got so far that we already give explanations of the Ten Commandments in Japanese. Rejoice and give thanks, therefore, to God our Lord, for that new regions are thus laid open, in which your own industry may one day find a large field of work, Be ready for, perhaps, in less time than two years, I shall write and summon many of you to Japan. In the meanwhile, meditate upon and cultivate humility with all diligence: conquer yourselves in those things from which our depraved nature shrinks, and make it your constant effort, by God's grace, to know yourselves thoroughly. Self-knowledge and distrust of ourselves are the nurses of confidence in God, and the motives of Christian humility. I pray and adjure by Jesus Christ that all who are hereafter to come to Japan will prepare themselves for the hardest things, and break down and tame their own desires, which are the hindrances to such great good. "We owe, indeed, a great debt to God for this, that He has brought us into these heathen countries, that we may forget ourselves in Him. Every-thing here being in the hands of the heathen, we have no one but God to hope in, no one but Him to have recourse to for protection. At home in Europe, where the religion of our Lord Christ flourishes, it somehow or other happens that the people we have to deal with, and created things, such as the love of our parents, our country, our relations, the conveniences of life, and the like, are so many hindrances to our fixing our whole and entire hopes upon God alone. But here, when we are so far from our home, among barbarians, utterly destitute of all human defences and resources, it is a matter of necessity for us to rely only on our confidence in God. And the thought of the very great benefits thus conferred on us by God is a source of no common shame and self-reproach to us. For we almost see with our bodily eyes the goodness of God towards us. So that whereas, having come to these parts out of a desire to extend our divine religion, we thought that we were doing something worthy of a   132 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ reward from God, we now see clearly enough that it was a very special blessing which God conferred on us in that we came. “There is a very famous university at Meaco, the capital of Japan, and many others elsewhere in the country. If we see that these people are fit and prepared for evangelical teaching, perhaps we shall write to all the chief universities in Christendom, calling upon them to help us in this work ; because they might very easily, with the power of all their learning and virtue, bring numberless heathen to the knowledge and worship of their Creator and their Saviour. We shall write to their members as to our seniors and fathers, at once begging them to look upon us as their younger brethren, and explaining what joyful and abundant harvests of souls may be reaped here by their means. Therefore we shall ask them again and again, that if they cannot come hither themselves, at all events they will support those who devote themselves in this way to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. And if the matter shall be of sufficient importance to require it, we shall not hesitate to inform the Holy Father himself concerning it. And we shall also diligently invite all the pious religious orders so dear to God, who are burning with the desire of extending the kingdom of Christ, to come out at once and slake that heavenly thirst for souls which they feel in these islands of Japan, as well as in the country of China, which is far larger than this, and which is said to be easily entered from hence without fear of hurt from the natives, if you have the public guarantee of the Emperor of Japan. “But now I will at last make an end of my letter, although, indeed, I can never come to an end of showing you how much I love you, all and each. If the hearts of those who love one another with the love of God could be seen, then, dear brethren, you would certainly see your own images im-printed on my heart. But maybe, if you were thus to use it as a mirror, you would not be able to recognise yourselves therein ; for I have a very great respect for your virtue, and you, on the other hand, have a great contempt for your own weakness, and on account of your great humility you would never recognise yourselves in my heart, although your images would be imprinted there for you to see. “May our Lord Jesus Christ show us what His holy will is, and give us, out of His great goodness, strength worthily to accomplish it! "Yours wholly in Christ, “FRANCIS." [S. Francis Xavier to the members of the Society of Jesus at Goa, Nov. II, 1549. The letter, which is a very long one, is here much abridged.] No one who is alive to the duty of missions can hear without much thankfulness of the success which has attended the work of the C.M.S. Deputation in AUSTRALIA. It is true that the Australian Church has not been neglectful of its duty in this respect in times past ; it has supported missions to the aborigines, to the Chinese and other immigrants, as well as the Melanesian and New Guinea Missions, and there has been a branch of the C.M.S. in Sydney for sixty years. But, none the less, things have not flourished. It was by Bishop Patteson's own wish that the S.P.G. grant to the Melanesian Mission was discontinued, on the ground THE MORNING CALM. 133________________________________________ that the Australasian churches were well able to support it ; and yet, recently, the support has been so inadequate that the sup-pression of the bishopric is contemplated. A very admirable paper, the Australian Mission News, was published until recently, but was discontinued because it was not well enough supported. In all ways it has become abundantly clear that the Australian Church needed a larger degree of missionary zeal. It is the more pleasant, therefore, to hear that the Deputation GENSAN HARBOUR. has been received in Sydney and elsewhere with the greatest enthusiasm, that courses of lectures on special missions have been given, and that there has been formed already the “Church Missionary Association for the Colony of New South Wales.” The main object of the Association will be in the words of a paper circulated in New South Wales, “not to collect funds to be remitted to C.M.S. in London, but to send forth missionaries from New South Wales to the Society's fields, and to maintain

  134 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ them there by the freewill offerings of its members in the colony. The Association will, indeed, be the medium through which any persons desirous of contributing to the Society's general or special funds may be able to do so, but the delegates from England assure us that the Society will rejoice if Australia should supply mission-aries enough to absorb all the money that can be raised. It is further proposed that the Association, as an independent body, connected with the C.M.S., but not strictly a part of it, should, if the providence of God hereafter open the way, undertake missions in countries not occupied by the C.M.S.” Nor is this all that has been done. Already one lady of high qualifications- Miss Helen Phillips, lately tutor of women students within the University of Sydney-has offered herself, and has been sent as an honorary missionary of the C.M.S. to Ceylon, in connection with the New South Wales Association. These things cannot but stir us to the heart. It may well be that many would wish to see the organisation of missions carried out by the Church without the means of a society, but, none the less, we can only rejoice here, and wish the delegates, Mr. Stock and Mr. Stewart, God-speed in their further work in other parts of Australia, in Tasmania, and in New Zealand.

The following story was told by Bishop Potter, of New York, at the meeting in connection with the Archbishop's Mission to the Assyrian Christians, held at Lambeth on May 19th : - “A few years ago two young men of Persia who had been educated in a Presbyterian mission school went to New York to be trained in one of the seminaries there for mission work in Persia. Walking one afternoon in Broadway, they found an open church. It was a church which had been built before the American Revolution, in connection with the work of the vener-able Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. They turned in, and, for the first time in their lives, they heard liturgical worship in accordance with the Anglican or Anglo-American use. They were sufficiently masters of the English tongue to follow the service, and, after listening for a little time, one of them turned to the other and said, ‘This is our home.’ In that service they, as it were, caught the echoes of that ancient worship in which their fathers had been nurtured. They imme-diately became students of the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Communion, and it has been my privilege to ordain one of them for missionary work in connection with the   THE MORNING CALM. 135________________________________________ Archbishop's Mission, and the other for work in China. I have had the gratification, since I arrived at this fountain of ecclesi-astical authority, to receive through His Grace two letters, both referring in kindly and gratifying terms to the good record which one of these young men is making, under the auspices of the English Church, in connection with the Mission to the Assyrian Christians.”

There is still living at Kalsapâd, in the Telegu country to the north of Madras, an old man who is reputed to be the first Telegu convert to Christianity. “The Word of God,” writes the Rev. A. Westcott, “has indeed mightily prevailed in the sixty years that have elapsed since his conversion, seeing that there are now more than 10,000 adherents in the S.P.G. Telegu Missions alone.”

No more striking illustration of the enormous need for the Bishopric for NYASSALAND could have been given than a state-ment made at the Anniversary Meeting of the Central African Mission by Bishop Smythies. It would be much easier for him, he said, if half his diocese were in London, because it would take him about six weeks to get to England and back again to Zanzi-bar, whereas it takes him many months to get to Lake Nyassa and back again.

From the Central Africa Magazine we take part of the very excellent speech made by Bishop Selwyn at the meeting referred to : “I am glad to be here to support my brother the missionary Bishop of Central Africa. It is not exactly a case of the blind leading the blind, but rather of the lame helping the lame.* I am glad to hear more of this work, and I am the more interested because it is all so like my own. As I heard Bishop Smythies just now speak of his difficulties and of what he wanted to do, it sounded word for word as I should describe my own Mission, except this, that luckily I have had a great highway-the sea-to carry me about among my islands, while he has to walk those long, weary journeys. . . . Whilst he tells us little of the malaria and fever he endured, please remember what that means. We think that we have done a good deal if we go ten miles on a good road, and growl if there has not been a steam-roller applied to it ; but I believe these African paths are

• Bishop Selwyn stood with the aid of a crutch during his speech.

  136 THE MORNING CALM. ________________________________________ like my own-the most abominable ever invented. Most of us have had influenza this year, and saw a complaint about not being able to get nurses. Influenza is very much like malarial fever. We growl because we cannot get nurses to help us in our comfortable room, with friends around us. Think what it means in the heart of Africa, with perhaps only some black people who do not understand you, and will bother you out of your life when your head is splitting. Then you will understand why Bishop Smythies looks to-day as he does, and what it costs in effort and pluck to carry on a work like this.” Correspondence. SIR.-In every letter that I receive from the Bishop from Corea there is an earnest request for a doctor, who is sadly needed at Seoul. The Committee of the Hospital Naval Fund are prepared to make themselves responsible for the expenses if only the right man can be found. May I ask all the readers of Morning Calm to make this want known amongst their friends? In addition to being fully qualified as far as medical training, &c., is concerned, applicants must be unmarried and communicants. Whoever is accepted will live as a member of the Mission staff, and in addition to his stipend, if stipend is required, will receive food and lodging, a warm welcome, and have a very happy home. Yours faithfully, C. E. BROOKE, General Commissary. Wanted. THE Corean Missionary Brotherhood is very anxious to possess a piano. They have nothing but a small harmonium, which is required in the chapel, and their circumstances hardly admit of so large an expenditure. Can any of our friends help them? If anyone should have a small piano to dispose of the Director would be very glad to hear of it at 97 Vassall Road, S.W.