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tfBRARY OF PRINCETON 
 
 JAN 2 4 2008 
 
 TMEOLOOICAL SEJMiNARy 
 
 
 
 r'-m- 
 
 on the 
 
 
 
 
 „ MISSION IN KOREA 
 
 of the 
 
 Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, 
 
 by 
 
 ROBERT E. SPEER, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 [Printed for Use of the Board and the Missions.] 
 
 tTbe JBoarD of jforeign ^isoions 
 
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 IprcsbBtcrian dburcb in tbc S. B. 
 
 156 ipiftb Bvenuc, flew J^orft. 
 
 1897. 
 
Analysis of Report 
 
 I. — Introduction..' i 
 
 II. — Historical Sketch 2-9 
 
 1. Roman Catholic Missions 2-5 
 
 2. Development of Protestant Work 5-9 
 
 (i.) The Motives of the Christians 6-9 
 
 (2.) Is the Work Genuine? 9 
 
 III. — Methods and Policy of the Mission 9“3i 
 
 1. The Native Church 9-22 
 
 (i.) Organization 9-13 
 
 (2.) Requirements for Membership 13-17 
 
 (3.) Care of the Native Church 17-19 
 
 (4.) Self-Support 19-22 
 
 2. Education 22-27 
 
 3. Medical Work 27-28 
 
 . 4. Woman’s Work 28-30 
 
 5. Missionaries 30“3i 
 
 IV. — Problems and Dangers 32-45 
 
 1. Political Aspects of Christianity 32-35 
 
 2. The Political Condition of Korea 35-37 
 
 3. The Problem of Bible Translation 37-40 
 
 4. Comity 40-42 
 
 5. Property 42-43 
 
 6. “The Christian News ’’ 43-44 
 
 7. Are More Missionaries Needed? 44-45 
 
 V. — Conclusion 45-47 
 
•V/v 
 
I. Introduction. 
 
 I present herewith my report on the work in Korea, where 
 Mr. Grant and I spent the month of August. Leaving Nagasaki, 
 Japan, in the evening of August ist, we reached Fusan the next 
 morning. From Fusan we went by sea to Chemulpo, and thence 
 in a small coasting ship to the Ta Tong River, in the north, up 
 which we sailed in a small boat to Pyeng Yang. After a week 
 in Pyeng Yang we traveled across the country to Seoul, where 
 we attended the mission meeting. After ten days there we rode 
 overland, through a flooded country, from Seoul to Chemulpo, 
 whence we sailed for China on September 2d. I would express 
 to the Board my appreciation of Mr. Grant’s assistance and com- 
 panionship. We were together constantly for the three months 
 spent in Central China, Japan, and Korea, and it is impossible to 
 overstate the great comfort and help he was ever giving to us 
 and to the missionaries. 
 
 II. Historical Sketch. 
 
 The Korea Mission is one of the youngest Missions of the 
 Board. Several Missions have been organized .since its institu- 
 tion, but they were in fields previously occupied. The Korea 
 field is the last field entered by the missionaries of our Church. 
 Yet in none is the work meeting with more marked success, or 
 are the prospects for the future more bright. 
 
 1 . Roman Catholic Missions . — Our first missionary, H. N. Allen, 
 M; D., now the Minister of the United States to Korea, entered 
 the field in 1884, and so began resident Protestant mission work. 
 The Rev. John Ross, of Manchuria, had visited the Korean fron- 
 tier in 1873, and had subsequently translated portions of the 
 Gospel of Luke, and then the whole New Testament, into Korean, 
 and had even visited the valleys of the extreme north of the 
 country, where many were found ready to confess Christ and to 
 receive baptism. 
 
 Long before these efforts, however, the Roman Catholic 
 missionaries had toiled and striven, rejoiced in success and 
 gladly met martyrdom among the Koreans. The Very Rev- 
 erend Father Wallays says that as early as 1592, under the great 
 general Hideyoshi, Japanese Christians “were able to announce 
 the true religion to their Korean prisoners,’’ but the zeal of Father 
 Gregory de Cespedes amongthe people in 1594 met with no suc- 
 cess. For two centuries practically nothing was accomplished, 
 although the Catholic priests in Peking are said to have taught 
 from time to time the ambassadors whom the King of Korea 
 sent annually to take tribute to the Emperor of China. Toward 
 
4 
 
 the close of the last century, however, a group of students, seek- 
 ing enlightenment, interested themselves in Christian books, 
 which had found their way in from China. This led to visits to 
 the Catholic missionaries in Peking, fresh supplies of books with 
 crucifixes and images, and the conversion of a number of men, 
 who, in the absence of any priest, baptized one another and took 
 Christian names and soon organized a church, patterned, so far 
 as they knew, after the Roman order. The movement spread, 
 and, in spite of persecution and the banishment or beheading of 
 the leaders, numbered, it is said, 4,000 Christians in 1794, the 
 year in which Jacques Tsin, a Chinese priest, reached Seoul. 
 The inhibition of ancestral worship, in 1791, led first to opposi- 
 tion, and, on the death of the king, Chong Chong, in 1800, and 
 the accession of the queen, a general royal edict against Chris- 
 tianity was issued, “ which was to be writ with letters of blood 
 in the annals of Korea," says Father Wallays' chronicle. A 
 second edict followed in about a year, and the persecutions were 
 severe but there seems to have been heroic stuff in many of 
 these Christians, and they continued to work and spread in spite 
 of the depletion made by oppression and apostasy, and to appeal 
 for a foreign pastor until, at last, Pierre Philibert Maubant ar- 
 rived in 1835. In 1838 there were said to be 9,000 Christians. In 
 July of the next year a fresh edict appeared, and the three Euro- 
 pean priests then in the country were executed. In 1845 Bishop 
 Ferreol reached Seoul, and shortly after there were more 
 martyrs, but I i,0oo Christians were reported in 1850, with five 
 young men studying for the priesthood. Five more priests 
 came in 1857, and the Roman Catholic population was reckoned 
 at 16,500. Long ere this, however, other than spiritual motives 
 had stolen in. The persecution of 1801 was fed. in part by the 
 queen’s fear of the nobles of the opposing party in the state, who 
 had joined the Catholics, and later the Christians deliberately 
 made appeals to foreign governments that were treasonable. 
 The political character of the Church was made more pro- 
 nounced by the great prestige Christianity gained through the 
 French-English war against China in i860. It was feared that 
 the armies would come to Korea, and “in many instances people 
 of rank humbly sought the good favor and protection of the 
 Christians. Medals, crosses, and books of religion were bought 
 in quantities. Some even publicly wore them on their dress, 
 hoping for safety when the dreaded invasion should come." 
 Four more missionaries came in 1861, and there were 18,000 
 Christians. In 1864, four more came; there were 1,976 bap- 
 tisms ; a press was established and a new seminary opened in the 
 mountains ; and then, in 1866, scores and hundreds were killed, 
 and every priest was swept out of the land. Of four bishops 
 and nineteen priests, fourteen were martyrs and four others died. 
 The Tai Won Kun, the father of the present King, who is still 
 living, and is an element of constant disturbance in Korea, con- 
 ducted these last and most furious persecutions, the echoes of 
 
5 
 
 which did not die away until the doors of the Hermit Nation at 
 last opened to foreigners in 1882. The Roman Catholics reported 
 last year 28,802 members, twenty-six European priests, three 
 native priests, and thirteen other native preachers. 
 
 2 . Devdoptneni of Protestant Work . — Beginning silently, to 
 avoid opposition, Dr. Allen securing his safety by acting as 
 physician to the American legation, our work has grown 
 steadily and powerfully. After eight years a second station 
 was established, in 1892, at Gensan, on the sea-coast, in the 
 northeast. In 1893, the station at Fusan, on the extreme south- 
 ern coast, was opened, and in September, 1894, the property at 
 Pyeng Yang, on which our mission buildings at thatstation stand, 
 was acquired. Meanwhile, other Missions had entered the coun- 
 try : the Northern Methodists in 1885 ; the Canadian Y. M. C. A. 
 Mission in 1889 ; the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
 in 1890 ; the Australian Presbyterians in 1891 ; the Southern 
 Presbyterians in 1892 ; the Ella Thing Memorial, a Baptist 
 Mission, in 1895; and the Southern Methodists in 1896. None 
 of these, except the Northern Methodist and the Southern Pres- 
 byterian, has more than two men connected with it. 
 
 For some years our work grew slowly. But it was a new 
 field, and, compared with the growth in China, where Morrison 
 waited seven years for the first convert, the progress was ex- 
 traordinary even before the China-Japan war. Since then, the 
 work has advanced by leaps and bounds. In 1894, there were 
 141 communicants, fourteen only having been added during the 
 preceding year. Then came the furrowing, renovating influ- 
 ence of the war, and now, after the most prosperous year yet 
 known, there are 932 communicants, 2,344 catechumens, loi 
 meeting-places, and 38 church buildings, the great majority of 
 which are provided by the people with no aid from the Mis- 
 sion. It would give an incorrect idea to say that there are 53 
 native teachers, for almost all the Christians have been trained 
 to regard each disciple of Christ as of necessity a worker for 
 Christ and for men. The reports of the missionaries presented 
 at the annual meeting set forth in fullness of detail the wonder- 
 ful work that is under way. These reports, submitted herewith, 
 need not be summarized here. Of Dr. Underwood’s, Dr. Reid, 
 of the Southern Methodist Mission, said that in twenty years’ 
 experience in China he had never heard such a thrilling and 
 exhilarating report, and having been with Dr. Underwood on 
 one long tour he could vouch that it was well within the actual 
 truth. Christianity has evidently laid powerful hold upon the 
 country. Instead of being called “ devil,” as missionaries and 
 all foreigners are in interior China, the Koreans use to the mis- 
 sionaries words of the highest respect, and their bearing in the 
 country leaves nothing to be asked in the way of kindness and 
 courtesy. Christians are viewed with remarkable confidence 
 and regard, instead of with distrust and hate. Even in the 
 south, where the direct results have been scanty, this change 
 
6 
 
 has been marked. “ Six years ago,” one of the native Christians 
 at Fusan told us, “ I came down through this province of 
 Kiung Sang with Dr. Hardie. We could not get meals at the 
 inns, and when we preached we met a perfect storm of derision. 
 Now, we can get into the inns anywhere, and derision has almost 
 wholly disappeared.” In the north the Church has spread and 
 penetrated, as we saw nothing to surpass anywhere else in the 
 world. We visited one day a large and well-furnished temple 
 to the Chinese god of war, in the city of Pyeng Yang. The gates 
 were closed and locked, and the pavements were overgrown 
 with grass. At last a keeper who said he was there only because 
 it was a cheap place to lodge, let us in and showed us the for- 
 saken shrines and the unworshiped gods. “ Why is this ? ” we 
 inquired. “ Where are the worshipers ? ” “Oh,” said the man, 
 
 “ there are so many people who believe in this Jesus doctrine 
 that no one comes here any more.” On the highways we met 
 men discussing Christianity. The sorcerers and devil-priestesses 
 are losing trade and standing, and I might multiply evidence 
 beyond that furnished in the reports of the missionaries to show 
 that the Gospel is powerfully influencing the sensibilities of the 
 people. I may quote only a portion of a proclamation recently 
 issued by the governor of the province of Whang Hai : “ Our 
 school was handed down to us by the sages of old days, whose 
 teachings and doctrines are forever unchangeable. But of late 
 the foreign religion came into the country ; the foolish novelty- 
 seekers have fallen into the foreign teaching, and they are un- 
 willing to study and observe our own religion. Is it not a 
 danger to our doctrine? I have heard a European say that if 
 one country adopts the religion of another the country will 
 surely be destroyed. I believe it to be true. Even foreigners 
 entertain such a belief and gave us the hint, and we, the disci- 
 ples of the saintly sages, must not be enticed into foreign teach- 
 ings which destroy our venerable customs and institutions. I 
 desire our Confucian followers to be more diligent in studying 
 the classics, making it their true religion, and regard the new 
 teachings as superficial doctrines. Thus they will all become 
 useful vessels of the state and accumulate great fortunes for 
 the people.” That a provincial governor should be so solicitous 
 is a good indication of the way Christianity is spreading. The 
 churches are crowded. Wherever the missionaries go they are 
 welcomed and listened to. The opportunities are unlimited. It 
 is true that in the northeast and southeast provinces. Ham Kwung 
 and Kiung Sang, the baptisms have been few, but the doors are 
 as open as in the west and north. A whole nation is as ripe for 
 the preaching of the Gospel as any nation could be. 
 
 (i) The Motives of the Christians , — Less than half a genera- 
 tion ago Korea was sealed against all missionary work and for- 
 eign intercourse. And now the Christians are numbered by the 
 thousand; thousands now are ready to hear. The whole land is 
 open. What are the reasons for this remarkable change and for 
 
7 
 
 such an unusual movement ? Through what proximate and 
 secondary causes has the great cause of the Divine will been 
 working? A just answer would be threefold: (a) Japan’s vic- 
 tory over China made a profound impression upon Korea. For 
 twenty centuries Korea had been a vassal state of the latter. 
 Its government was modeled after that of the Ming dynasty in 
 China. Its literature and philosophy were Chinese and Confu- 
 cian. It had ever viewed with awe its great and invincible pa- 
 tron empire. That little Japan should conquer this mighty an- 
 tagonist with arts and weapons which she made everyone un- 
 derstand were borrowed from Western civilization gave the 
 Koreans a deep respect for the West. They were ready to be- 
 lieve that the religion of the West must be superior. Also they 
 learned of the enormous political power of Western nations, and 
 many w'ere anxious to be on friendly terms with the representa- 
 tives of these nations, as the people had been glad in i86i to 
 wear crucifixes and images to indicate their sympathy with the 
 Catholics. In the hope of assistance in lawsuits, or securing 
 justice, or protection from oppression, or collecting debts, some 
 turned to the missionaries. It should be said that the mission- 
 aries have from the beginning resolutely antagonized all such 
 ideas and that the people have discovered this, and also that 
 scores who have been attracted in the first instance by some such 
 motives have almost at once been lifted out of this low sphere and 
 have passed on into the Church under high and genuine motives. 
 But the war and its political influences set men thinking and dis- 
 posed them favorably to Christianity. Because of the war and the 
 advent of Western ideas the squeezing of the officials stopped, 
 taxes were levied equitably, justice became less a stranger in the 
 land. “ I will illustrate it by a parable,” said one native to us. 
 
 Before the war it was as if out in the sea a big fish was eat- 
 ing up all the little ones. Now the big fish has stopped.” Be- 
 sides all this the war demoralized the spirit worshipers. It killed 
 the worship of the Chinese gods ; the people had seen their in- 
 competence publicly demonstrated. And it cut away some of 
 the few remaining props of Buddhism. 
 
 (b) In the second place the people felt in many districts that 
 they had reached the bottom of misery. Justice as administered 
 in their jails or magisterial yamens, for they had no courts, 
 was a travesty. Punishment was torture. One of the saddest 
 and most heart-sickening sights I ever saw was in the Pyeng 
 Yang prison, where a score of beaten, festering prisoners sat on 
 the ground with the prison gate wide open before them and only 
 turned vacant eyes at it and at us, out of the depths of their weak- 
 ness and agony. Poverty was added to oppression, and feeling 
 that nothing could bring them into a worse condition, many were 
 ready to welcome Christianity as something which might have 
 good in it. Dissatisfaction with the old life, its failures, miseries, 
 disaffections, was wide-spread, and prepared the way for the Gos- 
 pel. “I explain the movement toward Christianityon two grounds,” 
 
8 
 
 said one of the native leaders at Pyeng Yang. “ First, the grace 
 of God. Secondly, the people here have never desired to be 
 yang bans. They have been looked down on as low people 
 by the Seoul official class. They were ill-used by the officials 
 sent up here. They had nothing to trust in, and when the Gos- 
 pel came they accepted that as a hope and support. I do not 
 know what the future will be. Many are honest and will endure. 
 Many who do not fully believe will leave. These are the men 
 who do not study. There are men who have believed for the 
 benefit they could get from it, thinking that the Jesus Church 
 had power of which they could make use. Others think that 
 being low men they will get upon a higher social plane by com- 
 ing in. Many outsiders think it is a good thing and all right. 
 Few hate it now. Before the war men reviled me. Now they 
 commend my preaching. Why ? They have seen the good lives 
 and acts of the Christians. The people have seen drunkards and 
 whoremongers reformed, and wonder at it. When a man becomes 
 a Christian, the people see that all the other Christians treat the 
 new convert sociably and as an equal, that the Christians love 
 one another, and that they are constantly learning things and 
 studying and growing in character and intelligence.” These last 
 words describing the Church are true, and such a Church nat- 
 urally attracts others. They want to belong to such a society. 
 They have never known what it was to trust a fellow-man. Mutual 
 confidence among men has not existed in Korea. Its presence 
 among the Christians has been a powerful attraction. More- 
 over, the barrenness of mind and spirit of the people made the 
 definite, strong, novel, vital message of Christianity exceedingly 
 effective. None of the other forces of civilization, its industri- 
 alism, its commercialism, its rationalism, its secularism, has 
 touched the people yet. As in Japan, Christianity was first and 
 with a free field. As in the early days in Japan, also, the mis- 
 sionaries have gained a position of supreme dignity and influ- 
 ence. They are called by the Christians by a title of affection 
 and honor, “ moksa,” the word for shepherd, and also for men of 
 a certain high rank. The Christians treat the missionaries with 
 a delightful respect mingled with genuine love. The outside peo- 
 ple also since the war are most courteous, even stopping bullock 
 carts in a muddy street so as not to splash them. So high was 
 their standing, and so great the confidence in them, that the price 
 of rice in the Pyeng Yang market rose and fell with their move- 
 ments after the war. Mr. Noble told me that some of the people 
 even said that the title “ moksa ” was given to them because 
 they held rank from the king. One other fact that has con- 
 tributed to the growth of the Church has been the absence of 
 anything like association or organization among the Koreans. 
 Universal distrust made it impossible. The little Christian 
 churches show the people the possibility of union, and such love 
 as welded the early Christians together has an irresistible attrac- 
 tion shown forth thus in Korea. 
 
9 
 
 (c) Back of both these sets of motives, however, there is real 
 ground for believing that there is a genuine spiritual movement. 
 The ideas of sin and of salvation through Christ seem to be the 
 dominant ideas of the native Christians. Scores of them at once 
 explained their spiritual experiences to me in these terms. To 
 the question Why did you accept Christianity ? almost the in- 
 variable answers were, “ Because of my sins ” ; “ Jesus as Son of 
 God could alone deliver me from sin and hell ” ; “ Christ is the 
 only one to be depended upon ” ; “ Our minds were weak, and 
 when we read the commands of God we were anxious, for we 
 were not able to meet them. In Jesus we feel secure.” Many 
 of these men are reading into their acceptance of Christianity 
 much that they learned afterward. The sense of sin might be 
 stronger, but- there appears to be more of it than is common 
 among new Christians, and much of it reminds one of the re- 
 vivals among the Nestorians in the days of Fidelia Fiske. The 
 simple doctrines of the old Gospel have been preached by the 
 missionaries without ceasing or uncertainty. They have striven 
 to make one definite impression that they were charged with a 
 message of salvation from God, and the old truths of grace and 
 need have been kept foremost. The old religion of Korea had 
 nothing with which to satisfy those longings of the human spirit 
 to which the Gospel is addressed. The spiritual glory was gone 
 from Buddhism, which was of slight influence, and whose eso- 
 teric cults only mocked all honest hearts. The popular worship 
 was of the spirits, a form of sorcery, and it only fed the fear it 
 was designed to allay, and provided for no forgiveness or fel- 
 lowship. The tonic, vertebrate message of Christianity stirs 
 some true spiritual response among such people. 
 
 (2) Are this response and the work that has grown out of it 
 genuine ? Or will the bottom fall out ? Or if not that, will the 
 novelty wear off and the work drop down to the sober, patient 
 pace of most other fields ? Whether it will or not, I firmly be- 
 lieve in the genuineness of this present work. Instances of in- 
 dividual conversion which are as thorough and satisfactory as 
 any that are seen here, warm church life full of brotherly trust 
 and co operation, ex-Confucianists weeping over their sins and 
 crying in their prayers, giving without urging and in full meas- 
 ure, and preferring this to any mission aid, such activity in per- 
 sonal work, and such desire for souls as are not common at 
 home, men and women saved from adultery, drunkenness, and 
 gross sin, and made clean and pure, a fervent love of the Bible, 
 and a keen desire for more teaching, — Mr. Grant and I saw 
 enough of all this to satisfy us, even making allowance for all 
 merely superficial and imitative experience, that this work is true. 
 Such fresh originality of spiritual ideas, and such novelty of 
 greeting and conversation, we had not elsewhere met. It was a 
 constant blessing to us, like real contact with the fresh life of 
 the early Christians ; and when forty or fifty of the Pyeng Yang 
 people walked five miles out with us in the rain as we started 
 
ib 
 
 for Seoul, and held a little farewell meeting with us at a thatch- 
 covered wayside church, and then called out love and prayers 
 after us until a turn in the road hid them from sight, we were 
 taken back to scenes in the Book of Acts not more real or 
 more full of sincerity and truth. I believe these Koreans are as 
 good Christians as the Corinthians, or Galatians, or Ephesians 
 were. 
 
 III. riethods and Policy of the Mission. 
 
 The methods which have been pursued by the missionaries 
 in their work seem to me eminently wise. I believe they have 
 in large measure found, as they have from the outset earnestly 
 sought, the right principle upon which to establish their work. 
 How large a part Dr. Nevius had in shaping these meth- 
 ods it is impossible to say ; but it was not insignificant. In 
 Mrs. Nevius’s life of her husband is an account of their visit to 
 Korea in 1890: “Writing from Japan a few weeks later, he 
 
 said ; ‘ We had a delightful visit in Korea ; and if the mission- 
 
 aries there were not benefited by our sojourn with them, it was 
 not because they were not more than willing to profit by our 
 suggestions and advice.’ Indeed, it was touching to see how the 
 young missionaries clustered around him as round a father, with 
 affection and deference, asking his advice on many questions. 
 Evening after evening was spent in this way, he making a care- 
 ful study of the present conditions and wants of that newly- 
 opened country, and the missionaries ready tocarryinto immediate 
 execution suggestions and advice which commanded their ap- 
 proval.’’ Dr. Nevius’s “Methods of Mission Work ’’ constitutes 
 part of the required course of study prescribed for new mission- 
 aries, and those methods are ingrained into the policy of the 
 Mission. From other sources also the Korean missionaries have 
 sought light, desiring to avoid making mistakes that had been 
 made elsewhere. The labor to which they were put in this 
 effort and their uncertainty might have been in large measure 
 saved if there had been available for them, as I believe there 
 should now be, a manual of missionary policy. Has not the 
 time come for such a manual ? After two generations of sepa- 
 rate experience, preceded by one generation under the American 
 Board, are we not prepared to formulate these principles of 
 administration and policy in which we believe? The Missions 
 would welcome such a manual. The work needs it. 
 
 1 . The Native Church. — To establish this, full of life and activ- 
 ity, is the aim of the Mission. Under this title most of the 
 features of the Mission’s policy may be discussed. 
 
 (i) Organization. — Although there are ten or more churches, 
 there is yet no Presbytery. The missionaries have been well 
 aware of the dangers of prematurely organizing such a body, 
 and have preferred to wait until they had the materials for it, 
 and it could come as the needed development of a Church whose 
 life required it. Meanwhile, a device is in operation which has 
 
It 
 
 worked well thus far. In 1889 steps Were taken to organize all 
 the Presbyterian missionaries in Korea into one council having 
 many of the functions of the Missions, leaving practically only 
 the control of finances to each separate Presbyterian Mission. 
 This plan never went further than an initial stage. But in 1893 
 a Council was finally organized by the following action, recorded 
 in the Council minutes October 24, 1893 : ‘‘We hereby consti- 
 
 tute ourselves the Couficil of the Missions in Korea holding the 
 Presbyterian form of government, to have advisory powers and 
 such powers as may be delegated to it by the Missions repre- 
 sented ; said Council shall consist of all such members of the 
 Missions represented.” Of this Council our own, the Southern 
 Presbyterian, the Australian Presbyterian, and any Canadian 
 Presbyterian missionaries are members. It really takes cogni- 
 zance only of the ecclesiastical questions, and is the seat of 
 ecclesiastical authority, all other questions remaining in the 
 hands of the Missions. How this ecclesiastical authority is 
 exercised is explained by Article XVI. of the By-Laws of the 
 Korea Mission: “Until its organization in accordance with 
 Presbyterian usage, the native Church shall be administered by 
 the Council of the Missions in Korea holding the Presbyterian 
 form of government, through a session of five members, to be 
 elected annually. All candidates shall be examined by the 
 session, or by some one empowered by it ; and no baptism shall 
 be administered except by its sanction. When deemed expe- 
 dient, a similar session may be created by the Council in any 
 other place. It shall be understood by the Mission that to this 
 session are delegated the powers of a church session only. 
 Additional powers may be, from time to time, specifically dele- 
 gated to it by the Council on recommendation of a Mission.” 
 This Council has discussed such subjects as education, but it has 
 legislated only on such matters as church discipline, terms of 
 entrance, polygamous applicants for baptism, proposed ordina- 
 tion of elders, etc. 
 
 In the practice of the Missions thus far the following princi- 
 ples have prevailed : (<?) That ecclesiastical and administrative 
 responsibility should not be laid upon the people until men 
 truly qualified to discharge such responsibility have been raised 
 up, and the spiritual state of the Christians warrants and invites 
 it; (^) that all Christians, from the outset, should be charged 
 with those practical responsibilities which are necessary to their 
 growth in grace and character and the just discharge of their 
 duties as disciplers, as well as disciples, that they should be per- 
 sonal workers, be trained in worship and activity, and develop all 
 their own gifts ; {c) that the authority of the missionary should 
 be a spiritual authority.and that he should retain the formal eccle- 
 siastical responsibilities until there is a native Church and there 
 are native elders or ministers to whom they can be transferred ; 
 {d) that it is best to move slowly in the full ordination of elders 
 and organization of churches. There are as yet no ordained 
 
12 
 
 ministers. Some elders were ordained in the early stage of the 
 work, before the Mission had learned to be cautious, but the 
 result was unsatisfactory, and there are, I believe, none now ; {e) 
 that meanwhile the groups of Christians be developed in the sim- 
 plest and most effective way, all being expected to work and to 
 advance, and those men being selected and appointed as leaders 
 who are likely to grow into suitable candidates for the elder- 
 ship. 
 
 The following quotations from the By-Laws and Rules of 
 the Mission will illustrate this principle : Section A, Article V — 
 “ Each sub-station shall have, if possible, a leader or leaders, 
 either selected by the people or appointed by the missionary in 
 charge, whose duty it shall be to take charge of the Sabbath 
 service in the absence of the helper or other person appointed 
 for that purpose. Except in special cases, leaders shall receive 
 no salaries from the Mission funds.” Article IX — “ It shall be 
 the aim of the Mission, when practicable, to provide a full 
 church organization at each sub-station, and even before this 
 shall have been accomplished, to supply the preaching of the 
 Gospel by a competent person at stated intervals.” Article X — 
 “ On Sundays when there is no regular preaching at a sub- 
 station, the local leader or elder shall conduct, or invite some 
 competent person to conduct, an orderly service of worship, 
 consisting' of the reading of the Scriptures and prayer, giving 
 an opportunity for short exhortations, and especially giving 
 careful attention to teaching the people the Scripture lessons 
 previously assigned by the missionaries in charge.” Section B, 
 Article IV — “ Elders and deacons are officers of the church, as 
 laid down in the Scriptures and defined in the Presbyterian 
 Form of Government. They shall be ordained only after nom- 
 ination by the session of the Council, election by the church, and 
 subsequent instruction as to the duties of the office for at least 
 six months.” 
 
 This caution in ordaining men and in establishing a native 
 ecclesiastical body, like a Presbytery, lessens and postpones 
 certain dangers, but it does not wholly avert them. The times 
 of delicacy will arise when natives are ordained and ecclesiasti- 
 cal authority passes into their hands. The education through 
 which the native Church will have passed will fit it for that day, 
 it may be hoped; and meanwhile I believe in the policy of doing 
 what I have advocated in preceding reports, namely, committing 
 to Mission and native Church organization the functions which 
 properly belong to each, and not confusing these by charging 
 the Mission with the functions of the native Church, or laying 
 on the latter the functions of the former. 
 
 The Mission has recognized the necessity of encouraging 
 aspiration and growth by not hurrying the native Christians 
 through to the final stages of church organization at the outset. 
 With people who have had the training through which native 
 converts have passed, it is hard to keep the spiritual ideas 
 
uppermost. The physical act of baptism is invested with mys- 
 terious power by them. The Lord’s Supper becomes of itself 
 a pledge of salvation. The proper church organization, once 
 established, is the attainment of the goal to many of them. 
 Authentic admission to this and participation in the holy rites 
 which mark entrance to it are all that are needed, and growth 
 and progress stop. Instead of setting all of these up at once, 
 before they are appreciated, and in such a way as to leave no 
 room for encouraging inner progress by enlarged bestowal of 
 outer symbols and institutions, the Mission has wisely pursued 
 the policy of beginning most simply and informally, with all the 
 emphasis on real life and intelligence, meeting these as they 
 grow with appropriate advance toward full organization. 
 
 (2) Requirements for Membership. — So strongly is the truth 
 of these last observations felt by some that they distinguish 
 between the baptism of the convert and his admission to the 
 Lord’s Supper, administering the former on simple profession of 
 faith, but exacting more rigorous requirements in connection 
 with the latter, and holding out the significance of the latter and 
 the partial character of the former to encourage the convert to 
 go on in his Christian life and not to stop with conscience satis- 
 fied by the receiving of baptism alone. There are many objec- 
 tions to this course, the chief one being that we have no script- 
 ural or reasonable right to deny one of these ordinances to a man 
 to whom we allow the other. If he is truly enough Christ’s dis- 
 ciple to be baptized into His body, he is entitled also to partake 
 of that body provided for him. The end held in view in the pro- 
 posed discrimination is a good one, but it can be secured without 
 cheapening baptism or drawing an imaginar}?" line between it as 
 an individual ordinance, the right of the convert upon profession 
 offaith, and the Lord’s Supper, as a social ordinance, to which 
 the convert can only be received by a vote of a body of believers 
 who are prepared to take him into their fellowship. 
 
 Our Mission provides for the double stage which almost all 
 feel to be necessary, by the provision for a catechumenate prepar- 
 atory to baptism and full communion. Theoretically those are 
 to be admitted as catechumens who know and repent of their 
 sins, who believe in Christ as their Saviour, and who before the 
 congregation will rise and answer certain questions regarding 
 their lives. After six months’ probation as catechumens, accom- 
 panied by instruction, the candidates are re-examined by the mis- 
 sionary or missionaries and native leaders, and either admitted, 
 continued, or dropped. In the present stage of the work there can 
 be no baptisms without direct missionary action. There are no 
 natives who have authority, and the Mission rules guard the 
 administration of baptism even by the missionaries, who, while 
 charged with the duty of administering discipline, examining and 
 passing candidates, are also enjoined “to report the same to church 
 or missionary court having jurisdiction over the territory in 
 which the sub-station is, and who shall take the necessary steps 
 
14 
 
 toward the admission of the candidates, if in their judgment it 
 is wise and timely.” 
 
 The examinations at the admission of candidates to the 
 catechumenate vary in care and thoroughness. Often these are 
 hasty, and of groups rather than individuals, especially where 
 the work has grown as rapidly as it has in the north. But an 
 examination at which I was present in Pyeng Yang, and which 
 Mr. Lee and some of the native leaders conducted, showed 
 how thorough is the work which the missionaries are trying to 
 do. The examinations of catechumens who desire baptism are, of 
 course, yet more searching. This one from Pyeng Yang will 
 serve as an illustration. Many of the questions were put to the 
 catechumen, whose name was Yen, by the native leaders them- 
 selves : “ VVhy have you a mind to be baptized ?” The candi- 
 
 date, who was evidently under some feeling, replied, “ Formerly 
 I did not know Christ; now I believe in Him.” “Why?” 
 “On account of my many sins. I have sinned much.” “What 
 kind of sins?” “I know scarcely any sins that I have not com- 
 mitted.” “What ones?” asked Ye, a. native leader of great 
 capacity and penetration. “ I have worshiped spirits. I did 
 not know that I was sinning before I heard of Jesus. I heard 
 His words that the people of the world are sinners, and that He 
 had come to stand in sinners’ stead. I learned this from a man 
 named Chu.” “ Who is Jesus ? ” “ The Son of God. The Bible 
 
 taught me this, and that He had come and died and lived again.” 
 “ Has Christ borne your old sins?” “Yes, He has.” “If you 
 died before baptism would you go to heaven?” “Yes.” “Is 
 baptism not useless, then ? ” “It is a sign of union with Christ, 
 showing that lam a part of the body of Christ.” “ Do you 
 observe the Sabbath?” “I have done so since I became a cat- 
 echumen.” “Why?” “Because it is a holy day.” “What is 
 your business ? ” “ I am a go-between or middle-man.” “Fair- 
 
 days come on each fifth day. When they fall on Sunday do you 
 still observe the day ? ” “ Yes, I have done so for seven months.” 
 
 “ Do you love Jesus ? ” “ Yes ; He saved me and will give me new 
 life.” “ Do you love your wife and children ?”“ Yes. We used to 
 fight. I got drunk in those days. Now I love her and I love 
 Jesus more than all.” “ Do you understand the Lord’s Sup- 
 per?” “I think so. It is kept so as not to forget Jesus. The 
 eating and drinking are marks of our being joined to Christ.” 
 “ Do you still sin ? ” “ I cannot help doing wrong daily, but I 
 
 pray to God when I do.” “ Does God hear you for the good- 
 ness of your praying? Have you any merit?” “No. He 
 does it for Christ’s sake. As for merit, I have not the slightest 
 little bit.” “How do you know you are forgiven?” “The 
 Bible says that if we confess, we are forgiven. I believe it.” “Why 
 do you believe the Bible ? ” “ It is the Word of God.” “ How 
 
 do you know?” “The story of the shepherds and the coming 
 of the wise men makes me think that it is true.” “Have you 
 ever had a concubine ? ” No.” “ Do you drink ? ” “I was a 
 
*5 
 
 hard drinker, but not now. This body is not mine. If I abuse 
 it, I shall receive eternal punishment.” “ Do you speak the 
 truth ?” “I have lied even while I was a catechumen, about the 
 price of goods so as to make a ‘squeeze,’ but I have quit. It is 
 hard in my business, but I can not lie and be Christ’s disciple.” 
 “ Tell of your experience as a catechumen.” “ Well, other mid- 
 dlemen will not have anything to do with me, now that I have 
 become a Christian. I am able to read the Bible in both Chinese 
 and Korean, and since becoming a catechumen I have been going 
 to the church every night, where a number of us meet and read. 
 I have preached to my wife and children, but only my wife and 
 one son have come yet to believe and to do.” “What is your 
 idea of God?” “I know that He is the very high spirit.” 
 “ Where is He ? ” “ There is not one place where He is not.” 
 
 “Has God power?” “Yes. He has power to deliver us from 
 wicked devils.” “ Do these tempt you much ? ” “ Yes ; if I don’t 
 keep reading the Bible I am constantly tempted to gamble, to 
 commit adultery, etc.” “ Have you given up sacrifice ? ” asked 
 Ye. “ Yes.” “ What do you do on the day of ancestral worship ? ” 
 “ I go to the church on that day.” “ Can Christ keep you from 
 sin?” “ Yes, if I trust Him with all my strength.” “But will 
 He continue to do what He has done ? ” “ Can I think other- 
 
 wise of Him?” was the rejoinder. “You can’t see the Lord,” 
 said Kim; “how do you know all this?” “I believe, there- 
 fore I know.” “I fear,” said Mr. Lee, “that in about six 
 months you will quit this business.” The man looked up 
 sharply. “Not so,” he said. “Do you know,” the questioner 
 resumed, “that Jesus loves you?” “If He had not loved me. 
 He would not have died for me. From the time He died until 
 now I know that His love was bestowed on me.” “ But how do 
 you know,” I asked, “ that Jesus died for Koreans ? was is not for 
 Europeans only?” “ No,” he said, keenly ; “He died for the 
 whole world,” as though I had suggested depriving him of his 
 own. “ We have asked a great many questions now,” said Ye, 
 as though satisfied. I told the man, then, that we were glad to 
 welcome him into the great society of our Saviour, made up of 
 millions from every land, and that though we should never 
 see him again here we should meet him above at the reunion 
 eternal. “That is a thankful word,” he replied as with glow- 
 ing face he passed out, and Chung, one of the leaders, added. 
 “ I never thought before of that not meeting and then meeting 
 above. That was a good word. I am glad.” Then the meet- 
 ingclosed with Ye’s calling the attention of the others to a pas- 
 sage he had found in the thirty-first chapter of Exodus that was 
 stronger on the Sabbath, he thought, than anything in the New 
 Testament. And I went out thinking of the session meeting in 
 Drumtochty and its parallel in Pyeng Yang. The whole story 
 will show the spirit of the men and the movement as well as 
 illustrate the point on which I have cited it. 
 
 I have discussed in the report on China the question of the 
 
i6 
 
 standard of conduct to be expected of native Christians. It will 
 be necessary here only to quote the “ Rules for the Native Church 
 in Korea,” which are read aloud when catechumens are baptized 
 and are assented to by them at that time publicly : 
 
 “These rules are not for those outside of the Church, but 
 since they have been made for those inside the Church, anyone 
 whosoever that believes, and having come into the holy Church 
 is receiving baptism, must of necessity obey them. The only 
 way for outsiders to enter the Church is to repent of and forsake 
 their sins, and trust in the Lord. 
 
 “I. First, since the Most High God hates the glorifying 
 and worshiping of spirits, follow not the custom, even the 
 honoring of ancestral spirits, but worship and obey God alone. 
 
 “II. The Lord’s Day being a day of rest and a God-ap- 
 pointed holy day, let neither man nor beast do any work therein, 
 even to the pursuance of one’s livelihood ; unless it be abso- 
 lutely necessary work, let nothing be done. Labor diligently 
 six days, and as for this day, observe it strictly. 
 
 “ III. Since the filial reverencing of parents is something 
 which God has commanded, during the life of your parents 
 piously reverence them, and using all strength be faithful to 
 them as by the command of the Lord. 
 
 “IV. Since God has appointed one woman for one man, let 
 there be not only no abandoning of each other, but let there be a 
 wife and no concubines, a husband and no lewdness. 
 
 “V. Since the doing of the holy doctrine is the first thing 
 to be done, let every person persuade those of his own house, 
 praising and praying, and with one mind trusting and obeying 
 the Lord. 
 
 “VI. Since God has ordered that we shall live by working, 
 let no one eat and be clothed in idleness. Be not lazy ; tell no 
 lies ; be not covetous ; steal not ; but by all means follow an 
 upright livelihood, and using strength, feed yourselves and your 
 families. 
 
 “VII. The Holy Scriptures not only forbid drunkenness 
 and gambling, but since from these things spring quarreling 
 and fighting and killing and wounding, do not dare to commit 
 them. Also do not make, eat, or sell either wines or opium, and 
 keep not a gambling house, and thus debauch the conduct of 
 men.” 
 
 For a long time the Mission was undecided as to the right 
 ground to take with reference to the baptism of polygamous 
 candidates. The minutes of the Council show how thoroughly 
 and conscientiously the question was studied over ; while two 
 papers, one by Mr. Baird and one by Mr. Gifford, are among 
 the most useful contributions to the literature on this subject. 
 The missionaries have settled down now on a policy unalterably 
 opposed to the baptism of polygamists. I believe that this is 
 the right policy. It is not necessary to discuss it here, but, in 
 case the question should ever become a question for the Board’s 
 
17 
 
 decision, I should wish to present views and evidence in support 
 of the position of the Korea Mission. 
 
 In the Pyeng Yang field of the Northern Methodist Mission, 
 and, I presume, elsewhere in this Mission, there are four classes 
 of native adherents : the first made up of full church members,, 
 the second consisting of baptized probationers, who have all the 
 privileges of church membership save that they cannot vote 
 in church meeting and can be dropped without church trial ; 
 third, probationers ; fourth, inquirers. 
 
 It is fortunate that a high ideal is held up in the young 
 Korean churches, and that a warm, zealous life saves the 
 churches from being chilled by such requirements, and preserves 
 them from Pharisaism by making them evangelistic. The 
 difficulty of maintaining a high standard of life, while at the 
 same time dealing meekly and gently with those who err, and 
 whom patient treatment may bring back, is evident. It is too 
 much to expect that all the laws of heredity and environment 
 can be overleaped in a day. And the effort to be true to God 
 and His law, and also to God’s creatures and the laws of their 
 lives, is a task of supreme difficulty. Such quotations as these 
 from the minutes of the Council indicate the general line of 
 action of the Mission : (i) “Resolved that Mr. Saw be informed 
 that the rule of the Church is that no man can be a member 
 who holds complicated marriage relations with more than one 
 woman. That, in consequence of this, as information has come 
 to us that he is involved in such relations, he is hereby suspended 
 from membership until such time as he shall rectify these 
 relations to the satisfaction of the session, and prove himself 
 the husband of but one woman.” “ (2) Blank, guilty of abuse of 
 foreign influence, in attempting to enforce payment of money 
 by confining the debtor on missionary property in absence of 
 the missionary. He was required to confess his sin before 
 Chang Dong and Yun Mot Kol congregations, and submit to 
 public rebuke from pastors in charge.” “(3) Yang Si Yong, 
 baptized May i, 1892. He left off attending service when the 
 school (in Gensan) was closed, has been very inconsistent, and 
 seems never to have known the way of salvation. The charges 
 against him are drunkenness, disgraceful quarrel unrepented of, 
 failure to attend services and entire disregard of the Lord’s 
 
 Day, and the fact that Mr. S and the entire church believe 
 
 him to be a hypocrite and a lip-professioned Christian. The 
 committee, therefore, thinks that Mr. Yong’s name should be 
 dropped from the roll and he be forbidden communion until he 
 shows evidence of repentance.” 
 
 (3) Care of the native Church.— The policy of developing 
 the native Church slowly on its ecclesiastical side has been ac- 
 companied in the plans of the Mission by great emphasis on the 
 spiritual care and instruction of the native Christians or inqui- 
 rers, as the following quotations from the Mission rules will show : 
 
 “ A sub-station consists of a number of Christians who meet 
 
i8 
 
 together on the Sabbath in a chapel or private room for the 
 worship of God. 
 
 Sec. A. Art. IV. It shall be the policy of the Mission to 
 unite as far as possible sub-stations which are in close proximity 
 to each other. 
 
 Art. VI. All sub-stations shall be brought under the review 
 of the Mission each year, and shall be assigned to the several 
 members of the Mission, only providing that no sub-station shall 
 be taken out of the hands of the founder without his consent. 
 
 Art. VII. It shall be the duty of each missionary having 
 charge of special sub-stations : 
 
 (1) To visit the sub-stations under his charge as often as 
 possible. 
 
 (2) To assign to native laborers under his charge their cir- 
 cuits, and give them instruction concerning their work. 
 
 (3) To work out a course of Scripture instruction for each 
 sub-station, in accordance with the general plan approved by 
 the Mission. 
 
 (4) To appoint or procure the election of a leader or leaders, 
 and to instruct them in their duties. 
 
 (5) To invite the leader or leaders, and one or two others, as 
 in their judgment they may see fit, to attend the theological 
 class of the Mission nearest their home ; to urge their attend- 
 ance, and to report to the missionary or committee in charge of 
 the theological class, the names of those who will probably 
 attend. 
 
 ) To administer discipline, to examine and pass candi- 
 dates for admission to the Church; to report the same to church 
 or missionary court having jurisdiction over the territory in 
 which the sub-station is, who shall take the necessary steps 
 toward the admission of the candidates, if in their judgment it 
 is wise and timely.* 
 
 Art. VIII. Each missionary shall make an annual report to 
 the Mission concerning each of the sub-stations under his charge, 
 giving the number of applicants for baptism, the number of bap- 
 tisms, the number suspended or excluded, together with a full 
 account of its condition. 
 
 Art. XIV. The regular establishment of new sub-stations 
 shall be encouraged only where there is time for the careful 
 oversight of the same, except where special indications of Prov- 
 idence and openings for work call for their establishment. 
 
 Art. XV. It shall be our policy to establish strong, well- 
 manned sub-stations in important central positions, rather than 
 a large number of weak ones.” 
 
 Under the caption “ Educational Work,” the plans of the 
 Mission for the instruction of leaders will be presented. 
 Attention is called now merely to the fact that adequate super. 
 
 *N0'IE.— As in other missions and mission stations, this power rnay be delegated to 
 the missionary about to visit any sub-station or stations Avhere distance or other cir- 
 cumstances might render it impossible for the church or missionary court, as such . 
 to act upon individual cases. 
 
19 
 
 vision by the missionary is insisted upon. This means itinera- 
 tion, of course. The great need of the Mission now is for more 
 itineration of the best directed kind, and accompanying it, for 
 more instruction of the native leaders and groups of Christians. 
 
 (4.) Self-support. — The last statistical report of the Mission 
 for the eleven months ending September i, 1897, gave the num- 
 ber of communicants at 932, and the total native contribution at 
 $971,12 silver; but this did not include, I think, many of their 
 gifts, between one hundred and two hundred dollars to the Indian 
 Famine Relief Fund, and a great deal to other causes. Nor did 
 it include a great deal that the people have furnished themselves 
 for their own work. It did include $260.50 supplied by the 
 people toward church buildings, which are very cheap, toward 
 which the Board gave nothing. Of the total congregational 
 expenses of $562.68, the people are reported as giving $545.16. 
 It needs to be remembered also that the great majority of the 
 working force are wholly self-supporting, the Mission employ- 
 ing only five helpers apart from the teachers, and the most wide- 
 spread work being done now by the unpaid leaders. Some of 
 the churches not only support all of their own work, but em- 
 ploy evangelists to give all of their time to itinerating work. 
 For example, of the Chang Yun church, in Whang Hai Do, one 
 of the missionaries writes : “ This church, our oldest sub-station, 
 is entirely self-supporting, and not only so, but they support a 
 regular evangelist to travel and carry on work in the surround- 
 ing country, pay the traveling expenses of any approved workers 
 that are willing to do country work in the intervals of their 
 secular labor, have endowed their own day school, built for them- 
 selves a large, substantial church, have contributed to the work 
 in other sections ; at a special collection taken recently, sub- 
 scribed and paid over to the Indian Famine Fund between $80 
 and $90, and now propose to support entirely a foreign mission- 
 ary and his wife, if such are sent to live in their neighborhood." 
 They propose to give such a man rice for himself and his 
 servants, fuel, some money, and a farm which they will work for 
 him under his direction. 
 
 The spirit of a true self-reliance, unaccompanied by any 
 petulant jealousy or bumptious sense of independence, seems to 
 have been developed among the people. In upper Whang Hai 
 Do, for example, the sub-stations have multiplied greatly — loo 
 fast under the native unpaid leaders to allow the missionaries 
 to visit them carefully. A great need of books arose, and the 
 leaders suggested the establishment of three depositories in dif- 
 erent parts of the field where the people could go and purchase 
 books, but they deprecated the employment of paid colporteurs 
 by the Mission, and they wished all the expenses to be met 
 by the charges for books. I was struck in going into one of the 
 four large Sunday schools in Pyeng Yang with the fact that 
 on the floor in the centre of each group of men was a little 
 pile of money. I supposed it was the collection, but discovered 
 
20 
 
 it was the money they paid simply for the lesson leaves. Even 
 those they had no desire to receive as a charity. 
 
 The secrets of this happy condition are two : first, there is a 
 genuine spiritual life in the hearts of these people ; and sec- 
 ondly, they have been started on a right basis at the beginning. 
 The Mission rules are worthy of presentation : 
 
 “A leader shall be a native Christian, selected by the people 
 of a sub-station, or appointed by the missionary in charge, 
 whose duty it shall be to take charge of the regular services in 
 the absence of the person or persons appointed for that pur- 
 pose, and to have general oversight of the sub-station. 
 
 “A steward shall be a native Christian selected by the people 
 of a sub-station, or appointed by the missionary in charge, to tem- 
 porarily perform the duties of a deacon, but without ordination. 
 
 “All native agents receiving pay for Christian work, with 
 the work that they are doing, shall be brought by name before 
 the Mission at its annual meetings and assigned for oversight to 
 the various members of the Mission. 
 
 “Those native agents employed as preachers to the heathen 
 at large, shall not spend their time in neighborhoods where 
 there are sub-stations. 
 
 “ No member of the Mission shall employ on pay any native 
 agent without station approval, except it be temporarily in 
 special cases. 
 
 “ No one shall be hired to do occasional evangelistic work in 
 his own neighborhood. 
 
 “ It shall be definitely understood that salaries paid to native 
 agents are not salaries in the sense of payments for Christian 
 work done, but rather providing them with the means of sup- 
 port so that they may be able to give their whole time to the 
 work to which they believe they have been called. 
 
 “ These salaries of native agents, while varying somewhat 
 of course, according to location and work, shall as nearly as pos- 
 sible conform to a schedule prepared by the Mission at its 
 annual meeting. 
 
 “ The missionary in charge shall do his utmost to lead each 
 sub station to make an annual contribution, either for the sup- 
 port of the native agent laboring among them, or of persons 
 chosen by themselves to labor in new fields, and to make con- 
 tributions for the poor, and other special objects. 
 
 “ The introduction of the practice of having those who 
 come from a distance fed after the service on Sabbath, and 
 defraying expenses from the regular contributions of the church, 
 shall be strongly discouraged. 
 
 “Native agents shall be leaders, stewards, elders, deacons, 
 colporteurs, helpers, Bible w'omen, licentiates, evangelists, and 
 pastors ; leaders, stewards, elders, and deacons shall receive no 
 pay for such services." 
 
 These rules are full of hard sense. They recognize that 
 there is a proper use of money in the employment of native 
 
21 
 
 dgerits, but they strive for the fundamental principle that all 
 Christians must be workers, and that the work must grow from 
 the bottom up, and not from the top down. They firmly 
 believe, and their experience confirms this belief, that Dr. 
 Nevius’s plan, as it is called, is practicable and wise. They are 
 not deceived, as many who have never tried it seem to be, by the 
 idea that it does not allow any employment of native agency, or 
 even a large employment of native agency, provided this agency 
 is adequately supervised and is used for proper work. They do 
 not believe that the use of it in such a way as to relieve native 
 Christians from their responsibilities as workers, or to develop 
 a set of men who preach to native Christians rather than lead 
 them in work and evangelize the non-Christians, or who settle 
 down into a narrow, localized work rather than broaden out 
 into virile, effective itineracies, is a proper use of mission funds. 
 
 Some may say that these plans work in Korea because the 
 work was started right. Exactly so. Why may it not be started 
 right in all the new points where we are constantly opening new 
 work in other fields? Because we have not started right in one 
 part of a field is no reason why we should not start right in 
 another. Or some may say that these Korean Christians are 
 thoroughly converted. Exactly so. Is the spirit of God able 
 and willing to do for them what He is unable and unwilling to 
 do for others? Or some may say that exceptional conditions 
 have favored the growth of the work. It is so, and in many 
 other fields the conditions are unfavorable. That may make 
 our work slower or smaller. It should not lead to the adoption 
 of wrong methods in it. Or some may say that the character 
 of the Koreans is such as to make a strong, buoyant movement 
 like this possible in Korea, while it would not be possible else- 
 where. In a sense this is so. National character has great 
 influence. But in this regard the Koreans have always been 
 ranked low, and especially in comparison with the Chinese and 
 Japanese. If such fresh, vital methods are possible in Korea, 
 they ought not to be less possible in China and Japan. 
 
 In any event the spirit of work and love is in the Korean 
 Christians. During our stay at Pyeng Yang we were having con- 
 stant evidence of it. One day an unpaid helper came in report- 
 ing from his circuit thirty-one congregations he had visited, and 
 five which had sprung up, but which he had not been able to 
 visit. The number of catechumens in each varied from lo to 
 loo. The next day a helper from the North came in reporting 
 six congregations which had raised $127 for their expenses and 
 buildings, and nine unorganized groups of inquirers. Another 
 afternoon the Christians had a picnic in honor of Korea’s Inde- 
 pendence Day. The flags with which they marched attracted a 
 great crowd. This was an occasion which they at once improved, 
 and they preached the Gospel to the crowd. This they did 
 repeatedly to new crowds, and on their way home stopped in the 
 most public place in the city, and one after another declared to 
 
22 
 
 the great throng the riches of Christ. There was the power of 
 a great life in these Christians. They were fertile in plans of 
 evangelization and indefatigable in preaching Christ “ daily 
 and from house to house,” while “ they took their food with 
 gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor 
 with all the people.” 
 
 An unqualifiedly favorable view of the condition of the Ko- 
 rean Christians the missionaries were constantly discouraging, 
 pointing out weaknesses and defects and shortcomings. There 
 are and will be many disappointments, and the work may 
 be brought up with a round check some day, as it was in Japan, 
 though from different causes. But if I should go on and de- 
 scribe the churches in Seoul, the little groups of Christians in 
 other stations, the Sunday schools, and individual Christians, 
 the favorable and encouraging elements would greatly predomi- 
 nate. It appears to be a good Church, founded on a good basis. 
 
 2 . Education . — The Mission has moved as cautiously, and 
 it seems to me as judiciously in some regards, in the educational 
 work as in the development of the native Church. The last re- 
 port states that there are ten day schools with i66 pupils. There 
 were at that time also two boarding-schools, both in Seoul, 
 one for boys, with 35 pupils, and one for girls, with 38 pupils. 
 The latter was established in 1888, and the former in 1886. The 
 boys’ school began as an orphanage, and part of the instruction 
 was in English. In 1890 English was dropped and the orphanage 
 idea was abandoned as unsatisfactory. At the meeting last 
 September, when Mr. Grant and*I were present, it was unani- 
 mously voted to close the school for the present. There* were 
 the following reasons for this: (i) The evangelistic work is 
 imperatively urgent. There are openings everywhere. These 
 may be closed shortly. At present the field seems white, and 
 all available men, with the language and experience, should go 
 out among the people. Sending new missionaries prepares for 
 future work, but it does not do the work which is now crying to 
 be done. (2) There is little demand from the native Christians 
 as yet for higher education. Their great needs are for Bible in- 
 struction and primary schools. It will be to their interest to 
 wait a little before developing a higher school. (3) The old 
 school had not been satisfactory. It was in the main a primary 
 school, only a few boys being in it who were capable of receiving 
 advanced instruction; and it seemed best to turn the primary de- 
 partment over to one of the Seoul churches as a day school, to 
 be supported by it, while the so-called academic department 
 quietly went out of existence, so leaving the way clear for a clean 
 start with a new and real high school, when the Mission is 
 ready for it. (4) There was no one available who was adequately 
 qualified for just the work needing to be done in Seoul. Mr. 
 Baird and Mr. Miller, who had had charge of the school during 
 the year, were needed, the former in the wide-open work in the 
 north, and the latter in the evangelistic work in Whang Hai Do. 
 
23 
 
 For these reasons the school was discontinued, and the Mission 
 asks the Board to sell the property and hold the proceeds as a 
 special fund for the establishment of the institution as soon as 
 it may seem advisable to open it again. I favor this proposal. 
 The old property can not be put to any other wise use in con- 
 nection with our work, and it is located in a section of the city 
 where we should not wish to have our school. 
 
 At present, therefore, we have no high school for boys in 
 Korea. I think that before long we should have such a school. 
 The Christian community is growing fast and will need it for 
 the training of preachers, teachers, and Christian leaders in other 
 callings. There is great need, and will be greater need, for such 
 an institution. There are schools in Seoul, but none of the kind 
 we should want to establish, a school in the vernacular, openly 
 and aggressively Christian, and doing educational work of solid 
 and thorough character. Dr. Jaisohn told me that such a 
 school would be thronged with pupils even without the induce- 
 ments of English or bread-and-butter subsidies. On the other 
 hand, some of the missionaries say they have not seen any de- 
 mand for vernacular education. I believe, though, that if we 
 had the right man to organize and inspire our school we could 
 have as many pupils as we wanted, and could largely mould 
 the future of Korea. The opportunity seems to me magnifi- 
 cent. Mr. Adams seemed to me the man best qualified of the 
 present force, but it may be better to find some new man with 
 the special gihs, who will begin slowly and humbly, after he is 
 prepared, with a few boys, and who will be all for quality and 
 solidity, not for quantity and show. The industrial ideas some 
 have advocated I do not believe in, and the problems of a man- 
 ual element in the school, the place of Chinese in its curricu- 
 lum, etc., are secondary questions which the right man will 
 be led to settle in due time. Whether Seoul is the proper place 
 for a school designed to train Christian leaders for the country as 
 well as the city, is a hard question. It is a demoralizing place 
 to country boys, and it is a long overland journey, both from the 
 south and the north, though much shorter by sea. By the time 
 we are ready to reopen the school, however, there will be further 
 light upon the question of its location. 
 
 The branch of educational work most needing attention is 
 the instruction of the leaders. The work has grown so that it 
 has been difficult to keep pace with this. Its present momentum 
 must not be lost through the loss of freshness of knowledge. 
 The new converts and their leaders must be taught and put in 
 the way of unending growth in character and intelligence. The 
 Mission has aimed to provide for this, as its rules show : 
 
 “Section D, Article I. — The Mission shall provide for theo- 
 logical instruction to be given to its various native agents in 
 summer or winter theological classes, and also, when the time 
 arrives, for more systematic and thorough instruction by a 
 theological school. 
 
24 
 
 “Article II. — The winter or summer theological class or class- 
 es of the Mission shall be arranged for at the annual meeting of 
 the Mission, and shall be placed under the care of a member or 
 members of the Mission. 
 
 “ Article III. — The object of these theological classes shall 
 be to fit the vario'_3 native agents for their work, but more 
 especially to prepare natives to become self-supporting teachers 
 of others, without removing them from their various callings. 
 
 “ Article IV. — The various members of the Mission having 
 charge of sub-stations shall invite the leaders, helpers, and 
 native agents, and others whom they see fit, to attend these 
 classes nearest to their respective sub-stations, and report those 
 who will attend to the leader of the class. 
 
 “ Article V. — Except under special circumstances, only those 
 invited by a member of the Mission shall be allowed to attend 
 these classes. 
 
 “Article VI. — The work required of the members of the class 
 shall be such that all idlers or others with any personal motives 
 in view shall find it more agreeable to leave the class. 
 
 “Article VII. — It shall be the rule of the Mission to simply 
 provide for the entertainment of the members of this class while 
 in attendance upon its duties, and only in exceptional cases 
 shall any portion of the expenses of returning home be paid by 
 the Mission.” 
 
 Progress has been made in the matter of self-support in these 
 classes since this rule was adopted. The Chang Yun church 
 entertained the class held by Dr. Underwood last year, and it is 
 proposed in Pyeng Yang either to have the class entertained in 
 the houses of the native Chi istians, or to have it made up of dele- 
 gates appointed by the groups of Christians who will provide 
 for their expenses in whole or in part. The accounts presented 
 to the Mission meeting by Dr. Underwood and Mr. Lee of the 
 classes held last year are deserving of the careful reading of 
 each member of the Board. They are a revelation of the vitality, 
 the reality, the substantial character of this work. Mr. Baird’s 
 removal to Pyeng Yang, and Mr. Miller’s assignment to a share 
 in the great evangelistic work which Dr. Underwood was carry- 
 ing alone will enable the Mission to provide for yet more 
 thorough instruction of the leaders and others who come this 
 year; for the missionaries have found it impossible to confine 
 the classes to the numbers originally planned. Men and women 
 and even children come in, some from long distances, and refuse 
 to be turned away. 
 
 The Mission has conducted annually also a teachers’ insti- 
 tute, analogous to this normal theological school, only designed 
 to fit better for their work the teachers of the primary schools. 
 It is an excellent scheme. Even when a high school of academic 
 grade has been developed, these normal institutes held during 
 a favorable season of the year for Bible training and for train- 
 ing in methods and material of teaching will be needed for a 
 
25 
 
 great and useful class of men too old to enter a high school, 
 and likely to be rather unfitted than better prepared by its 
 influence and method. 
 
 The Girls’ Boarding School is now in its comfortable new 
 home, to which it was moved because (i) in its old location it 
 was too near the Methodist school, which came at a later time, 
 and with which it could not compete, (2) in its new location it was 
 believed there would be more room for woman’s work, and (3) the 
 proximity of legations and the new palace has made the old loca- 
 tion objectionable. During the last year forty-two were enrolled, 
 eighteen from Christian families, and six from the families of 
 adherents. Their ages ran from eight to seventeen. Work of such 
 sort for girls is now in the stage which it has passed through in 
 China and elsewhere. Parents do not value education for their 
 daughters, and do not care to support their daughters in schools, 
 especially when it costs more than it would at home, and the 
 girl’s labor is lost. Also there is little opening for educated 
 women. Patience and perseverance are needed. The general 
 judgment of the Mission in the discussion we heard was to the 
 effect that parents should be expected to give at least a large 
 portion of the rice needed for their daughters, and that in a 
 boarding-school the age limit of admission should not be too 
 low. The primary work should be done in day-schools. 
 
 The Gospel has proved a great intellectual stimulus to the 
 native Christians. It has awakened them out of torpor. They 
 teach one another to read. They gather in their simple little 
 churches built of mud and rice-thatch just like their own houses, 
 and talk and study, and they want schools. The Mission 
 encourages this desire, but does not wish to frustrate its best 
 results by providing what the people can provide. To meet 
 this point the following rules were adopted at the Mission 
 meeting : 
 
 Resolved^ That in places where there is a sufficient Christian 
 constituency, private schools should be organized and sup- 
 ported by the native Church, and should be under the super- 
 vision of the missionary in charge of the district. That in 
 exceptional cases assistance may be given by the Mission, but 
 not to exceed more than one-half the expense of the school. 
 
 “ Primary schools carried on at the expense of the Mission for 
 evangelistic purposes in districts where there is not yet a suffi- 
 ciently strong Christian constituency, may be organized, but 
 only after direct Mission permission, or in the interim between 
 Mission meetings by sanction of the Educational Commit- 
 tee 
 
 “We recommend that the age of entrance to the Girls’ School 
 be raised from eight years to ten years (foreign count). 
 
 “In regard to making an advance toward self-support in the 
 Girls’ School, we recommend that a strong effort in that direc- 
 tion be made, the method adopted being left to the direction of 
 the one in charge.’’ 
 
26 
 
 The section from the Mission rules regarding schools is in its 
 outlines so sensible that I quote it in full : 
 
 “ Sec. C, Art. I. All the schools of the Mission shall be under 
 an Educational Committee, which shall act as an advisory board, 
 with whom the various superintendents of individual schools 
 shall consult, and whose special duty it shall be to see that the 
 general policy of the Mission with reference to school work is 
 upheld; who shall attend, or, if this is not possible, shall appoint 
 a committee to attend the annual examinations of the schools, 
 and who shall report to the annual meeting of the Mission im- 
 mediately after the reports of the superintendents of various 
 schools have been heard. 
 
 Art. II. Each school shall be given in charge of a superin- 
 tendent or board of superintendents, who shall have the entire 
 charge of such school — of course following the general policy 
 laid down by the Mission; shall advise with the Educational 
 Committee on all new departures, and report annually to the 
 Mission, giving the total expense, total number of pupils, num- 
 ber of pupils received, number of old pupils lost or dismissed, 
 number of teachers and the wages paid them, list of classes 
 taught by foreign superintendent, number of Christian pupils, 
 and general moral tone of the school. 
 
 Art. III. In every school two primary ideas are to be kept 
 in view : 
 
 (1) That the fundamental idea of a school is to educate 
 in the various branches of useful knowledge, and thus fit the 
 pupils for the various duties and responsibilities of active 
 life. 
 
 (2) That the religious and spiritual influence brought to bear 
 on the pupils is the most important thing in the school. 
 
 Both of these ideas may and should be realized in a good 
 school. 
 
 Art. IV. Those who have charge of the school should give 
 a fair amount of time to teaching and other personal intercourse 
 with the pupils, so as to gain an influence over them, and to 
 impress their minds and characters. Unexpected visits and 
 stated examinations may serve to keep the Korean teacher up 
 to his work, but they are comparatively ineffectual in moral in- 
 fluence and in power to affect the character of the pupils. 
 
 Art. V. The board, lodging, etc., shall be perfectly plain, 
 and a special effort shall be made to avoid the fostering of any 
 ideas and the forming of any habits which will unfit the pupils 
 for living as their own people in the same station in life live. 
 
 Art. VI. All teachers shall, if possible, be Christians, and 
 shall be mentioned by name in the foreign superintendent’s 
 annual report of the school, with the salary paid and the num- 
 ber of hours a week spent in teaching. 
 
 Art. VII. When pupils are admitted to the school, steps 
 should be taken, by written indenture or otherwise, to secure 
 attendance until the object had in view is accomplished. 
 
27 
 
 Art. VIII. As pupils, the children of Christian parents are 
 to be preferred to heathen children, because they are more likely 
 to fulfill their engagements to remain in the school, and more 
 likely to make good and reliable men and women in the end. 
 
 Art. IX. Save in exceptional cases, children whose parents 
 are beggars, or such as send their children to school solely to 
 escape their maintenance, shall not be received as pupils. 
 
 Art. X. Dull and stupid boys and girls shall not know- 
 ingly be received into a school, nor retained there as a matter 
 of charity to them or their parents. 
 
 Art. XI. As a rule, boys should not be received as boarders 
 under ten years of age (foreign count), nor girls under eight 
 (foreign count), except with the approval of the local members 
 of the Educational Committee. 
 
 Art. XII. No more shall be done in the way of board, cloth- 
 ing, etc., than is absolutely necessary to secure the end purposed 
 by the school. If possible, clothing, bedding, and native books 
 shall be furnished by parents or guardians of the pupils, and as 
 soon as practicable, parents or guardians who are able to do so, 
 shall be required to pay something for the privilege of the school. 
 
 Art. XIII. An examination shall conclude each school year, 
 which shall be attended, if possible, by the Educational Commit- 
 tee of the Mission, and a report of the examination rendered to 
 the Mission at its annual meeting. 
 
 Art. XIV. The course of study of all schools shall be, in the 
 main, uniform, taking for its guide a course to be prepared here- 
 after. All these schools shall aim to prepare students for an 
 educational institution which shall be located in Seoul.” 
 
 These rules apply in the main to the boarding-schools. The 
 age limits, as applied to pupils in boarding-schools, are altogether 
 too low. In rules intended to cover day schools, also, require- 
 ments of sufficient missionary supervision cannot be made too 
 strict. Even in Korea we had evidence of the loss incurred by 
 a want of such supervision. If a school cannot be made what it 
 should be, it may not be best always at once to discontinue it, 
 but the presumption is adverse to its continuance. 
 
 3 . Medical Work — I think that there are no features of 
 medical work peculiar to Korea. What has been said in my 
 report on China applies equally to Korea. Medical work is 
 scarcely needed in Korea, however, to incline the people favor- 
 ably toward Christianity. It should have the evangelistic aim 
 even more conspicuously than in China, if that might be. Only 
 a few points need to be touched upon, (i) We have three hos- 
 pitals in Korea : one in Seoul, the largest, with a capacity of thirty 
 in-patients, and an average of fifteen in-patients during the year; 
 one in Pyeng Yang, with a smaller capacity, and one in Fusan, 
 which is really only a dispensary, with an operating room, waiting 
 room, and one or two more additional rooms. The medical mis- 
 sionaries last year treated 23,778 out-patients in these hospitals 
 and in the dispensaries under Dr. Vinton and Dr. Whiting, and 383 
 
28 
 
 in-patients. (2) I do not believe we ought to enlarge greatly the 
 medical missionary force in Korea. We have no medical mis- 
 sionary at Gensan, but there are two doctors there. In Pyeng 
 Yang the Methodists have agood medical work, and in Seoul there 
 are four other hospitals, two under the Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel, and two under the Methodists. It could be 
 hoped that there might be some consolidation between these five 
 institutions, of which ours was first in the field and has ever been 
 the largest and most efficient, but there is no prospect at all of 
 this. (3) Feeling that the field was thus supplied, and desiring 
 to have a more active part in the country evangelistic w'ork. 
 Dr. Whiting asked the Mission to assign her to such work. 
 Some felt that a woman doctor could gain access to a high class of 
 houses and women in Seoul inaccessible to anyone else, but Dr. 
 Whiting regards this opening as exceedingly small, if, indeed, it 
 can be obtained at all save in such exceptional ways as have 
 come to Mrs. Underwood. (4) The Korea Mission, with the 
 unanimous concurrence of the doctors, has decided upon a 
 policy adverse to indiscriminate gratuitous treatment. At Pyeng 
 Yang, in-patients bring their own bedding and pay sixty cents a 
 day for food, while each dispensary patient pays five cents. At 
 Seoul the regular fee for in-patients is twelve cents a day, which is 
 supposed to cover food and fuel. As a matter of fact, the majority 
 do not pay, but are taken on charity. In the dispensary, charges 
 are made in proportion to the value of the medicines. At Fusan 
 there has been special success in increasing receipts, while turn- 
 ing no one away because he cannot pay. (5) There would seem 
 to be some room for sharper application of the Manual rules re- 
 garding receipts on the field in some cases, and also for more rigid 
 adherence to the instructions of the Manual as to estimates, which 
 require a statement of the total estimated expenses and total 
 estimated receipts, request being made for an appropriation 
 equal to the excess of the former over the latter, and all of the 
 latter passing into the treasury of the Board. (6) Dr. Avison has 
 in Seoul a class of seven in the hospital who are studying medi- 
 cine with him. Two of these support themselves wholly ; to two 
 only their food is given. All work as assistants in the dispen- 
 sary and wards. I’he work is rendered difficult because of the 
 want of all text-books and of all medical and anatomical terms 
 in the native language. 
 
 4 . Woman's Work . — “Ten years ago,” wrote Mrs. Under- 
 wood, a year ago, “it was thought hardly safe for ladies to enter 
 Korea as missionaries, and seven years ago the writer’s life was 
 threatened on the street and her chair-bearers told they should 
 die if they carried her to the hospital, so that it was necessary 
 to go there on horseback for a day or two.” Now women live 
 and travel anywhere, and the work among the native women has 
 grown and prospered scarcely less than among the men. When 
 Mrs. Gifford left Seoul for her furlough last year, the Christians 
 insisted on carrying her chair for her, and all her baggage. 
 
29 
 
 They paid her fare from Seoul to Chemulpo. A great crowd, with 
 presents, accompanied her, and as her steamer sailed off they sat 
 on a hill, with banners, singing Christian songs. In Pyeng Yang 
 the work has grown so that the men alone fill the old church, 
 though it has been four or five different times enlarged ; therefore 
 the women are obliged to have a church of their own, which they 
 crowd full, while a blind helper, whose want of sight renders it 
 proper for him to work among them, preaches as true a Gospel 
 as can be heard anywhere in the world. It would be easy to 
 write from my notes many pages illustrative of the way the 
 Gospel has laid hold of the women, transformed some of them, 
 quickened their intellectual life, purged them of vilest sins, made 
 them clean, intelligent, active. It has wonderfully blessed the 
 homes of these women. The Korean woman is somewhat like 
 the Moslem woman in her home life. The woman’s quarters are 
 usually separate and she must not be too much seen. The 
 Gospel has meant liberty and love to her. At the close of a long 
 interview with a congregation of women, I asked, “ Do your 
 husbands treat you more lovingly since they became Christians ? ” 
 “According to Korean custom,” one replied, “ men look down 
 on wives and beat them. I see my son, who is a Christian, 
 treating his wife with love. I have not experienced it. My 
 husband is not a Christian.” There was a moment of silence 
 then, and another said softly, “ My husband is different now. 
 He loves me.” 
 
 Except in Seoul all the work for woman thus far has been 
 done by missionary wives. With all of their home cares, learning 
 the language, and the mastery of the practical details of life in 
 a new mission field, they have still found time and strength for 
 a glorious work. In Seoul there have been unmarried women 
 for- the work also, and there is room for more, especially for 
 teaching the women and for country work. The reinforcements 
 sent this year should be sufficient to meet the more urgent 
 needs. 
 
 A large number of native Christian women are voluntary, 
 unpaid workers. A woman of means in northern Whang Hai Do 
 has put up a church in her community, and also travels about 
 at her own charges as a woman leader. At least one appropria- 
 tion for a woman helper has been made, but I think none have 
 been employed, except teachers of schools. “ I raise the ques- 
 tion,” said one member in mission meeting, “ whether this is not 
 a better policy than paying any woman a salary for work. To 
 pay a woman worker might secure larger present numbers, but 
 would not the work be stronger and more lasting if we built it 
 up without money, using that only for expenses of travel, etc., 
 when v/e take a girl or woman with us for work in the country ? ” 
 “Yes,” said another, “the woman helper whom I had with me 
 last got her rice, but received no pay.” “ Let us use many 
 women,” added Mr. Baird, “ rather than one or a few, in work. 
 This will train a larger number and avoid many troubles.” 
 
30 
 
 “Some say,” concluded the first, “that we need paid women 
 helpers as deaconesses, but we have deaconess work done in 
 the Chang Dong church by voluntary women helpers.” Such 
 a growing work on such a sound basis is a great comfort Mrs. 
 Underwood closes the article which supplies the quotation at 
 the beginning of this section, with the words : “We are not as 
 eager to see a large number of women entered on our rolls as to 
 be sure that the Gospel in purity and simplicity is being spread 
 far and wide.” 
 
 5. Missionaries . — I have already expressed to the Board the 
 conviction w'hich intimate intercourse with the missionaries in 
 Persia, China, and Japan was constantly deepening, regarding 
 their character and abilities. I heard Dr. Stalker say once that 
 he had formed the opinion, after careful and wide observation, 
 that the average missionary was a little stronger intellectually 
 and a little better spiritually than the average minister at home. 
 However that may be, the missionaries are better men and 
 women even than I had before judged them to be ; more sensible, 
 more attractively human and sane, more earnest, more open to 
 improvement, more energetic, more judicious than my ideal of 
 them, which was already high. The missionaries are seen to 
 the best advantage in the midst of their work. What they are seen 
 to be there is the best answer to criticisms upon their earnestness, 
 devotion, or judgment. 
 
 The Korean missionaries rank high in all of these qualities.. 
 The opinion of Mr. Sill, who was United States Minister at the 
 time of our visit, would be confirmed by all who know them : 
 “The missionaries here are a strong, level headed, efficient body 
 of men. They are a remarkable lot. I have had greatest 
 pleasure in associating with them. Some people say mission- 
 aries are a troublesome lot, but I have never met men more 
 sensible, more easy to get along with. I think highly of them.” 
 
 The relations between the missionaries and the natives is in 
 the main delightful, though some find it difficult to maintain 
 that balance between the spirit of complete confidence and trust 
 and the judgment of scrutiny and care which is as necessary as 
 it is hard, for many. It is indispensable both to trust and to 
 inspire trust on one hand, and to avoid self-deception or rash 
 over-confidence on the other. 
 
 The language examinations prescribed by the Mission are 
 very thorough, and the Examination Committee is charged with 
 a wide responsibility, which it is to be feared is allowed to be 
 slighted at times. The Mission rule, however, is as follows : 
 
 “Article II. — The Examination Committee shall not only 
 examine, but act as an advisory committee along the line of the 
 studies of the new missionaries, and shall arrange for quarterly 
 examinations during the first two years. The Examination 
 Committee shall notify new missionaries, on their arrival, of the 
 course of study and the person to whose oversight they have 
 been assigned. No missionary shall be considered to have 
 
31 
 
 passed the final examination (except in the case of married 
 ladies) until he or she has passed at least two of the annual 
 examinations before a majority of the members of the Examina- 
 tion Committee.” 
 
 It is the practice of the Korea Mission to employ language 
 teachers for the married women, rather than to try to have one 
 teacher suffice for a husband and wife. The estimates for the cur- 
 rent year asked for twenty-six teachers for twenty-eight mission- 
 aries, including wives, at'an estimated expense of yen 2,972. It has 
 been felt that husbands and wives would want to be using their 
 teachers in the mornings at the same time ; or even if they did 
 not, that a teacher who had been worked hard all morning 
 would not be a satisfactory teacher, though he might be em- 
 ployed on other work, in the afternoon. As a matter of fact, 
 some of the teachers have been rather secretaries, or mission 
 helpers, than genuine language teachers, and should be so en- 
 tered in the estimates. Not enough real language study is done 
 to employ the time of twenty-six teachers for it. I think it is 
 fair to raise the question whether there might not be some 
 room for economy here, and yet it is not desirable to force this 
 unduly, at the expense of thorough mastery of the language. 
 
 The sanitary condition of Korean cities is bad, but it is not 
 worse than that of Chinese cities, if as bad. And the summers 
 in Seoul, which is set in a cup in the hills of yellow granite 
 sand and black rock, are said to be very hot. But in the main, 
 Korea is an exceptionally healthful country, and some of our 
 stations are as good as sanitariums, the missionaries themselves 
 declare. The regular Manual provisions regarding term of serv- 
 ice and furloughs work no hardship at all in the case of Korea 
 missionaries. 
 
 The cost of living in Korea is unquestionably higher than in 
 China. Wages are higher, and prices of produce as well. The 
 silver dollar in Korea buys only 500 cash, while in China it buys 
 from 800 to 1,000. Somewhat larger salaries seem to be justified. 
 
 Objections to unmarried men missionaries in Korea lie v/ith 
 equal force, so far as these objections refer to misunderstand- 
 ing and slander, against unmarried women and even against 
 married men. In all cases missionaries have to establish their 
 characters, and live down misconception; and difficulties on this 
 score ought not to constitute a barrier, denying to unmarried 
 men the privilege of missionary work in Korea. For men like 
 Mr. Moffett, Mr. Whittemore, and Mr. Hunt there is a large field. 
 
 One question which emerged in the mission meeting referred 
 to the principles which should control a missionary in the use of 
 private funds. Can such funds be used wholly without restraint ? 
 I expressed the opinion that such funds should never be used in 
 a way contrary to Mission policy, nor in forms of work not 
 wholly approved by the Mission, nor in such a way as to con- 
 strain Mission action, or involve Mission responsibility without 
 its approval, or the Board's responsibility without its approval. 
 
32 
 
 IV. Problems and Dangers. 
 
 1 . One of the most interesting features of the Korean Church 
 is its patriotism. Our belated coasting vessel deposited us in 
 North Korea on a Sunday morning, and along the river Mr. Lee 
 called our attention to villages in which, on bamboo poles, small 
 Korean flags were flying. These flags marked the residences of 
 Christians, or were flying over the churches. It is a practice 
 which has grown up among the Christians without missionary 
 suggestion, to run up the national colors over their homes and 
 churches on Sunday. They do it to proclaim the character of 
 the day, and to mark their own respect for it. Some of the lead- 
 ing Koreans in Seoul have organized an Independence Club and 
 have laid out an Independence Park and built an Independence 
 Arch and established an Independence Day, the sixteenth day 
 of the seventh Korean month, in celebration of their independ- 
 ence of China, brought about through the war. These are the 
 advanced and liberal men. The reactionary Confucianists hunger 
 for the good old iniquitous days. The leading spirit in the 
 progressive movement is Dr. Jaisohn, a native Korean, who is a 
 naturalized American citizen, and a member of Dr. Hamlin’s 
 church in Washington, an attractive, able, and earnest man. His 
 representative character as a Christian, a leading progressive, 
 the editor of the one vernacular newspaper, which speaks out 
 with unflinching boldness and also publishes an English edition, 
 and as a man who was given official position when the progressive 
 movement was dominant, has great influence in identifying the 
 Christian cause with the cause of Korean independence and 
 progress. Most of the patriotic demonstrations were made by 
 the Christians while we were in Korea. In Pyeng Yang they 
 had a great picnic on Independence Day. No one else ob- 
 served the day. On the King’s birthday, which fell on Sunday, 
 they listened to patriotic sermons in churches decorated 
 profusely with national flags. The next day they had in Seoul 
 a great open-air mass-meeting, addressed by Dr. Jaisohn, by the 
 Mayor of Seoul, formerly Minister in Washington, whose wife is 
 a Christian, and by the Assistant Minister of Education, a devout 
 Christian, who was a member of the Korean embassy to the 
 Czar’s coronation, and who was educated in the United States. 
 On the last Sunday we were in Korea, another great mass-meet- 
 ing was held in a royal building, at which half a dozen spoke, 
 and some of the speeches ran into the same fervent political 
 strain. One spoke on the text which describes the apostolic mis- 
 sionaries as men who were turning the world upside down, and 
 pointed out how, in Korea, men had been really standing on their 
 heads in the mud. “The missionaries have come to right things. 
 Society must be turned upside down. There is no hope in the 
 upper classes. Christianity begins at the bottom. After all, a 
 man’s a man, be he king, noble, or coolie.” Then a voice in the 
 crowd said “ What kind of talk is this?” “ Christianity is no 
 Tong hak or rebellious doctrine,” the speaker went on. “It 
 
33 
 
 teaches only to worship God, fear no man and do right.” 
 “Whom have we to fear? ’’asked the next speaker. “Who is 
 there to trust except God? Great men? If you stick a knife 
 into them it will hurt just as it would hurt me. No ; trust God 
 only and we shall win. Christ's kingdom will prevail. Where 
 is Alexander’s empire ? Where are Greece and Rome ? Gone 
 utterly ! And where is Christ ? Ruling everywhere. It can not 
 end otherwise. Right and God and Jesus will win. There is no 
 reason why we should not expect to see a Christian king on the 
 throne of Korea.” No such free and stirring speech as this had 
 ever been heard in Korea before. 
 
 The reasons for this fervid patriotism among the Christians 
 are manifold. One is that Christianity has quickened and vivi- 
 fied the minds of the people and given them boldness of speech, 
 so that they see now the abuses of the past and the glory of 
 independence, and are able to reason dauntlessly about such 
 things. Another is that Christianity is essentially an emanci- 
 pating religion, and leads inevitably to the desire for free gov- 
 ernment and pure and popular institutions. Yet another is that 
 the Catholics have always erred in the want of patriotism, and, 
 indeed, in being guilty of downright treason to Korea. Coming 
 out into Protestant enlightenment just at the time that Korea 
 was being roughly hustled by Japan into the paths of civiliza- 
 tion quite a little against its will ; and then seeing Japan’s grasp 
 failing, and the country standing without true heart or strong 
 mind, the Christians have been roused to speak out boldly, for 
 their King, to be sure, but also for righteous government and 
 just laws. A further reason is to be found in the influence 
 of some leading men who recognize that the one hope of the 
 country lies in the power of Christianity and Christian educa- 
 tion. One of these said to me, “The only hope of the country 
 is in the churches. There is no moral character in Korea. It 
 is being created in the churches. There is no cohesion, or unity, 
 or confidence among men. There is no company of men, 
 however small, capable of acting together. The churches are 
 raising up bands of men who know how to combine for a com- 
 mon object, who are quickened intellectually, and are full of 
 character, courage, and hope. To convert and educate the com- 
 mon people is the only hope of the land.” Some Korea magis- 
 trates hold these same views. 
 
 There is a great deal that is hopeful and encouraging in this, 
 but there is also a danger that Christianity may be politicalized, 
 if I may use a barbarous word. As it is, in some places the 
 people think the Christians are partisans of the West and of 
 Western civilization, and are not true Koreans any more. When 
 they cut off their absurd top-knots, as many are doing, and put 
 on foreign clothes, as a few have done, the idea gains added 
 support. In his last evangelistic report Dr. Underwood cites a 
 striking case of confusion of Christianity with political influence, 
 which illustrates in part this danger: ‘ ‘ ' v ' ' ' ' ‘ 
 
34 
 
 “At Keum Chun, an offshoot of this work, a church has been 
 purchased and the work progresses well. At Pyeng San, a joint 
 offshoot from Chaing Yung and Pai Chun, a very promising 
 work has commenced. These three places have passed through 
 considerable trial, through the rascality of some four or five 
 men, who, though never reckoned as Christians by the Chris- 
 tians, announced themselves such, and securing the assistance of 
 the weak magistrates of Chairyung, Pong San and Pyung San, 
 brought no little discredit upon the cause of Christ. These men 
 went to the magistrates, and stating that they had been ap- 
 pointed Christian leaders by Mr. Underwood of Seoul, and with- ' 
 out civil authority it was impossible to make the Christians do 
 right, they asked and received from these magistrates official 
 documents, appointing them Christian leaders, and ordering 
 all to whom these papers should be presented to obey them. 
 Whether the magistrates were intimidated into doing this, or 
 whether a monetary consideration assisted in the procuring of 
 these papers I do not know, but that the documents were given 
 with magisterial seals affixed, I know, for they are now in my 
 study. Armed with these papers, they went through that sec- 
 tion, extorting money, ordering arrests, commanding magis- 
 trates to decide cases in their favor, and dressed in foreign 
 clothes, with rifles and swords, intimidated the people generally. 
 The prompt action of the Chang Yun church helped not a little 
 to restore confidence in true Christianity. 
 
 “ Deacon An, having been appointed to go down to Pyung San 
 and announce to the people that we had nothing to do with 
 these so-called Christians, who were only brigands, arrived at a 
 village just as these men, with much paraphernalia and blas- 
 phemy, were on the point of carrying on some of their so-called 
 Christian rites. They had forced the people of the village to 
 prepare a grand feast for them, and had compelled the wealth- 
 iest man to give them a large sum of money. Deacon An, en- 
 tering the room where the meeting was to be held, found the 
 Bible and some Christian books upon the table, over which a 
 white cloth had been spread. I am told that wherever they 
 went, they pretended great reverence for the Bible and Chris- 
 tian books. Unarmed and alone, as he was. Brother An arose, 
 denounced the leaders as impostors, and demanded the return 
 of the stolen money. His cause being righteous, his boldness 
 won the day. He urged the people not to retaliate, to use only 
 legal means, and went with them to lay the matter before the 
 magistrates. It took considerable correspondence between the 
 American Legation, the Foreign Office, Home Office, the gov- 
 ernor of the province, and the magistrates before the matter was 
 straightened.” 
 
 The views of the missionaries on this subject are altogether 
 clear and satisfactory. They wish Christianity to be introduced 
 and extended as a spiritual movement, and are striving, as far 
 as they can, to discourage the political idea. Perhaps I exag- 
 
35 . 
 
 gerate the danger ; but there seems to me to be need of the 
 most careful and judicious direction of the native Church, lest it 
 swing loose or be some time misled or misused. Or, if these 
 perils are only imaginary, there is at least need that wrong 
 notions of Christianity do not get foothold among those outside 
 of the Church. Christianity is sure to bear civil and social 
 fruits. These will be sound and valuable in proportion as they 
 are the fruits of a spiritual and unworldly Christianity. 
 
 The present political situation in Korea furnishes added 
 reason for the greatest prudence and caution. The murder of 
 the queen at the instigation of Viscount Miura, the Japanese 
 Minister, in October, 1895, and the consequent flight of the king 
 from his palace, and from the control of the Japanese, to the 
 Russian Legation, put Japanese influence in Korea at an end, 
 and turned Korea over to Russia as completely as though 
 Russia had waged the war with China for the possession of the 
 land. Of course Japan had disavowed any but the most superior 
 altruistic motives in the war. She was aiming to introduce 
 Korea to civilization and to become herself the pilot of all of 
 Asia into light. And while she had control of Korea she 
 introduced many admirable reforms, placing Korea under the 
 deepest obligations to her. It was the sincere and honest desire 
 of the Japanese Government to help Korea and purify her. It 
 was done in a bungling way — a way that alienated the Koreans 
 and made the Japanese detested throughout the whole country 
 — but the motive was good, and many of the results were 
 admirable. Then the fatal and wicked blunder of October 8th 
 brought the thing to an end. Since the Japanese left, the 
 country has been dropping back into its old ways. Squeezing, 
 unjust taxation, office buying and selling, have been resumed. 
 Mr. Weber, the Russian Minister, and Mr. McLeavy Brown, the 
 head of the Customs and adviser to the Treasury, stemmed the 
 current ; but Mr. Weber did not feel the call to the mission of 
 reform, as the Japanese felt it, and he has now been succeeded 
 by Mr. Speyer, who is said to be a man of different mood, with 
 whom Russia will be more and Korea less, and telegrams 
 announce the removal, under his pressure, of Mr. Brown. There 
 would seem to be no obstacles now in the way of the descent to 
 Avernus. The Korean king, who is neither a strong nor a good 
 man, will find it easy, and a great host of panderers and leeches 
 will assist his descent. The Russians will prevent too much in- 
 justice, but will not assist any over-progressiveness, and will prob- 
 ably encourage a stationary condition of things. The general 
 tone of the Government at present is illustrated by this royal 
 edict, contained in the Government Gazette of August 19th : 
 
 Edict . — We have been blessed by Merciful Heaven, and we 
 have been guided by the royal spirits of our illustrious ancestors 
 in directing State affairs. But when we reflect upon ourselves, 
 we realize that we are not worthy of being trusted with so great 
 a duty as to rule the country of our royal ancestors. This 
 
36 
 
 thought causes us constant worry and discomfort. However, 
 through heaven’s bountiful blessing, our country has been 
 peaceful, and many auspicious omens have manifested them- 
 selves since our reign. We, instead of doing our duty more 
 diligently under the auspicious circumstances, have become 
 negligent in the duties which we owe to the nation, resulting 
 in a general confusion and perversion throughout the country. 
 At last a most irreparable calamity has visited the royal 
 family, which event we cannot bear to speak of again. It 
 was solely due to our unpopularity that such a horrible event 
 happened. 
 
 “ After that event the traitors had their own way in the man- 
 agement of the State affairs. They destroyed the old customs 
 of the country, and abolished the formalities of ceremonies and 
 sacrifices. But, fortunately, we have re-established some of the 
 ancient customs, and made some recoveries in those matters 
 relating to the welfare of the country. We have cultivated the 
 friendship of a neighboring power, and regained our inde- 
 pendent rights. In looking over the old history, we find that 
 during the Chu dynasty the country became more prosperous 
 after the reign of Emperors Sung and Kang : during the Han 
 dynasty the country was regenerated after the reign of the 
 Emperors Mun and Kyeng. Therefore we informed heaven, 
 earth, and the royal spirits of our ancestors, on the i6th day of 
 this month, that we are going to reform our country in the 
 same manner as was done during the Chu and Han dynasties. 
 We have changed the name of the current year to the first year 
 of ‘ Kwangmu,’ and we have asked the help and guidance of 
 heaven and the ancestral spirits. In order to be like our royal 
 ancestors, we hereby issue this new decree to show that we are 
 anxious to imitate the deeds of our forefathers. Let this decree 
 be known far and near. 
 
 “(i) We have amply gratified the desires of our officials by 
 paying them sufficient salaries. They must respond to our kind- 
 ness by being loyal to us and just to the people. They must 
 not take bribes, squeeze public money, or rob helpless citizens. 
 From the i6th day of this month, if any official of the Govern- 
 ment violates these rules he will not escape lawful punishment. 
 (2) The War Office must grant substantial relief to the families 
 of meritorious soldiers who have rendered valuable services dur- 
 ing the riots and disturbances in the interior. (3) The provin- 
 cial officials are allowed to report the names of the dutiful sons 
 and pure-minded men in their districts to the departments, and 
 the departments must give them offices in the Government. 
 (4) It is the law of generations that murderers must be made to 
 confess their crime, therefore, hereafter all murderers must make 
 confession before being executed. (5) To reduce the sentences 
 of those prisoners whose offenses are other than conspiracy, rob- 
 bery, murder and immorality. (6) To relieve the widows and 
 orphans in the interior. (7) To rebuild temples and shrines 
 
37 
 
 throughdut the country by the local officials. (8) To repair 
 roads and bridges. 
 
 “Alas, while we endeavor to do our best in the accomplish- 
 ment of the matters enumerated above, we depend largely upon 
 the assistance of our officials. We hereby order every civil and 
 military official in the Government to offer his most hearty co-op- 
 eration, so that we may deserve the blessings from above, and 
 we will be able to purify the world. Let this be made known to 
 all” 
 
 Notwithstanding this, there are some good men in office, 
 and the Korean people are a good people. As a whole, they 
 have fine qualities, and with a liberal and enlightened govern- 
 ment they would develop into a useful and prosperous nation. 
 At present, however, the political conditions are reactionary. A 
 misdirected identification of Christianity with a liberal or pro- 
 gressive political movement, would invite the disfavor and op- 
 position of officials who are now neutral if they are not friendly, 
 while it would incur the displeasure of the “ neighboring power,” 
 whose friendship, the King says, he has cultivated, and whom it 
 is unwise for any one to affront. The reforms Japan inaugu- 
 rated may be undone. Any political reforms may be. Let us 
 with complete circumspection inaugurate such spiritual reforms 
 as can never be undone. Let us avoid all implication with 
 political movements within or without. Let us give no offense 
 to any. 
 
 3 . A problem which has been much before the Mission, 
 and has received exhaustive discussion, is the matter of Bible 
 translation. Shortly after the missionaries reached Korea they 
 took up this subject, and at a meeting held in Seoul, February 
 7th, 1887, a Permanent Executive Bible Committee was ap- 
 pointed, which adopted rules for its guidance, of which the 
 following are the more important : 
 
 “Art. II. This committee shall consist of two members from 
 each Protestant Evangelical Mission until such time as six mis- 
 sionary societies shall be represented, when one member from 
 each society shall constitute the committee. The determination 
 of right to membership lies with the committee in behalf of the 
 Protestant Evangelical Missions. 
 
 Art. VII. (i) The Permanent Executive Bible Committee 
 shall have in charge the translation, revision, publication and 
 conservation of the text of the Holy Scriptures in the foreign 
 tongue. 
 
 (2) This committee shall have power to select a board of five 
 (5) official translators. Should the exigencies of the work seem 
 to require it, this Board of Translators may be reduced by the 
 Permanent Executive Bible Committee to not less than three, 
 and increased to not more than seven. The Permanent Execu- 
 tive Bible Committee shall have power to declare and fill 
 vacancies on the Board of Official Translators only at regular 
 meetings. 
 
38 
 
 (3) When the Board of Official Translators shall report that 
 any complete book is ready for the press, the Permanent Exec- 
 utive Bible Committee shall publish a tentative edition, and 
 shall circulate it among missionaries and others for three years, 
 with requests for criticisms. 
 
 Art. VIII. When a manuscript has been duly passed and 
 published, and been before the public for criticism for three 
 years, then this tentative version shall be taken with the criti- 
 cisms received, and returned to the Board of Official Translat- 
 ors for revision. After said revision, the Permanent Executive 
 Bible Committee shall publish it as the authorized version until 
 such time as that committee shall see fit to order a further revi- 
 sion. Other societies or individuals wishing to use the text of 
 the tentative or authorized version, changing term*s to suit their 
 special views, may be so allowed at the discretion of the Perma- 
 nent Executive Bible Committee. 
 
 Art. X. All questions arising among the official translat- 
 ors, as well as the passing of a document, shall be determined 
 by a majority vote of that body ; it being understood that in a 
 board of less than five, at least three votes must be cast in order 
 to pass a manuscript. 
 
 Art. XI. It shall be required of the Board of Official Trans- 
 lators that they report the state of their work at each regular 
 meeting of the Permanent Executive Bible Committee, and 
 whenever called upon by the secretary of that committee.” 
 
 Thus far no “authorized version” of any portion of the Bible, 
 as defined in Article VIII., has appeared, nor has any “ tenta- 
 tive version ” even. All that have appeared have been prelim- 
 inary and provisional individual versions more or less revised by 
 other members of the Translating Board, but not representing in 
 any case their united judgment. The Gospels, Acts, Galatians, 
 and James have been issued in this form. A “ tentative version ” 
 of the first twenty chapters of Matthew has been completed, 
 but not published. Practically the whole of the New Testament 
 is translated in some form by individuals, but only the above 
 books have been printed. Some wish to rush the work of Bible 
 translation. Others think it will be as safe to go slowly, as the 
 work will all be revised shortly in any event. There are some, in 
 other Missions, perhaps, who could facilitate the progress of the 
 work if they could give it time, and in other regards more might 
 be done. The following actions of the mission meeting look in 
 this direction : 
 
 “ A resolution was carried to the effect that this Mission urge 
 the Permanent Executive Bible Committee to request each Mis- 
 sion, having members on the Board of Translators, as far as pos- 
 sible to release them from other work, and to appoint them to 
 give their main time and strength to this work 
 
 “ A motion was passed that we instruct our representatives 
 on the Permanent Executive Bible Committee, to request that 
 committee to urge the Board of Translators to present for print- 
 
" ^9 
 
 Ing as rapidly as possible, individual translations of books not 
 yet presented 
 
 ‘‘A resolution was in due course passed that we reiterate the 
 original condition upon which we entered upon the union trans- 
 lation of the Bible, to the effect that members of the Board of 
 Translators should not at the same time also be members upon 
 the Permanent Executive Bible Committee ; and that we ear- 
 nestly request such Missions as have the same representatives 
 upon both these bodies, to take such steps as are necessary to 
 conform to this condition. 
 
 “ Also another resolution recommending to the Permanent 
 Executive Bible Committee that Article II, of its Constitution 
 be amended by adding to it, ‘ No member of the Board of 
 Official Translators shall be eligible to a position on the Per- 
 manent Executive Bible Committee, and when at any time a 
 member of the Permanent Executive Bible Committee shall be 
 selected as a member of the Board of Official Translators, his 
 position on the Executive Committee shall be declared vacant, 
 and the Mission he represents so notified ’ ; further instructing 
 the secretary to convey copies of the several resolutions passed 
 at this annual meeting respecting Bible translation to the Mis- 
 sions interested, to the Permanent Executive Bible Committee, 
 and to the Bible Societies. 
 
 “ Another motion was also passed to the effect that we ask 
 the Permanent Executive Bible Committee to take Article II. 
 of its Constitution into consideration with a view to making 
 the basis of right of membership on the committee more ex- 
 plicit 
 
 “ A resolution was passed that we instruct our representatives 
 upon the Permanent Executive Bible Committee to endeavor to 
 effect a change in the Constitution of that committee relating to 
 the admission of representatives from other Mission bodies on 
 the held, so altering it as to give the respective societies a rep- 
 resentation as nearly as possible proportionate to their member- 
 ship.” 
 
 The Bible should be translated into Korean as fast as it is 
 needed, and as it can be well done. There is general agreement 
 that Mr. Ross’s version is not satisfactory. This was made 
 before Korea was opened to Mission work. It has too much of 
 the Chinese element in it, and many object to its spelling and 
 printing. The time has come for steady progress toward a 
 satisfactory version. The people are asking for it. But there 
 appears to be in the minds of some a too feverish haste, in 
 justihcation of which, however, it should be said that they feel 
 that the work has been unnecessarily delayed. At the same 
 time, the Mission force is small, the demands of the active evan- 
 gelistic work are great, and there have been many changes of 
 plan in the work since it was begun. The changes proposed by 
 the Mission would seem likely to accomplish all that can well 
 be done now. 
 
Most unfortunately, there is a difference of opinion as to the 
 term for God. The history of the similar controversy in China 
 is so sad that I marvel that the Korean missionaries, who have 
 proven themselves so able to profit by the experience of others, 
 are starting out in their own work, in this regard, by sowing such 
 baleful seed. The content of the term used must be supplied 
 by the Christian teachers, in any event, and one term is as good 
 as another, when all must be regenerated and refilled with 
 meaning. Or what disadvantages one term may have as com- 
 pared with another are as nothing compared with the disadvan- 
 tages of quarrel and conflict over this question. The vast 
 majority of the missionaries accept one term. One, two, or 
 three, I believe, hold to another, but they are strong and con- 
 scientious. Such a disagreement now prepares for greater dis- 
 agreement further on. It is not necessary to know the techni- 
 cal merits of the controversy, to be able to form a judgment in 
 such a case. The missionaries ought to agree. If they will not, 
 I should hope that the Boards and the Bible Societies would do 
 so. That would probably settle the matter, though there wdll 
 be confusion for a time. 
 
 4. Comity. — Our Mission now occupies four stations, Fusan, 
 Gensan, Seoul, and Pyeng Yang. The opening of Tagoo will 
 make five. Tagoo and Fusan are in the province of Kiung 
 Song, the southeastern province. The only other missionaries 
 in that province are the Australian Presbyterians, and we have 
 a territorial division of the field wdth them, by which the 
 two districts nearest Fusan are regarded as joint territory, 
 and for the rest, they take the land south and we the region 
 north of the Naktong river. Mr. Baird was the first missionary 
 to reside in this province. Gensan is in the extreme northeast- 
 ern province of Ham Kiung. The Canadian missionaries and 
 the Northern Methodists are also at work there, and no territo- 
 rial understanding exists. Pyeng Yang was visited by both 
 Methodist and Presbyterian missionaries in earlier years, and 
 has been a common field from the time of its permanent occu- 
 pation. Our work and force have greatly outgrown the Meth- 
 odists', who have worked, in the main, in one direction, w^est- 
 ward and southwestward. As the work grows, it is sure to 
 overlap. The Southern Presbyterians are working in the south- 
 western province of Chulla, and the Baptist mission from Dr. 
 Gordon’s church in Boston, in the province north of Chulla, 
 Chung Chong. The remaining provinces are the three central 
 ones: Kang Wen, with no missionaries, and no work in it ; 
 Whang Hai, worked from Pyeng Yang and Seoul by our mis- 
 sionaries, and our most fruitful field ; and the capital province, 
 Kiung Kei, with our own and the Northern and Southern Meth- 
 odists in Seoul, and the latter also in Song-do, a large city, two 
 days’ journey to the north. 
 
 The coming of the Southern Methodists led to some difficul- 
 ties in country stations, which were due to native workers in the 
 
first instance. These difficulties are regretted, and it is needles^ 
 to discuss them, save to say they made it clear that a sharp terri- 
 torial division between the Methodists’ work and ours is desirable. 
 There is plenty of unoccupied territory for them, and they do 
 not desire to encroach upon the fields of others. Dr. Reid, the 
 senior member of the Mission, says they would be willing to stay 
 out of Whang Hai province and to work east of Song-do and 
 north of the Han River and out into the unoccupied eastern 
 province of Kang Wea. It seems to me that this would be a 
 good arrangement, and I said so to our Mission. 
 
 With this understanding made, we should have territorial 
 adjustments with all of the Missions, save the Northern 
 Methodists. I sincerely wish we might have some division of 
 the field with them. If their work in the Pyeng Yang field were 
 as much stronger than ours, as ours actually is stronger than 
 theirs, I would be in favor of turning that field over to them 
 while we took Ham Kiung. As it is, I believe, it would work 
 out for the best interests of the field if the Methodists would 
 exchange their Pyeng Yang work for our Gensan work, and 
 would remove from the former field while we withdraw from the 
 latter. Their Pyeng Yang church has 28 members and 235 pro- 
 bationers. Their Gensan church had four members in May, and 
 215 probationers. It has been enlarged since. Our Gensan 
 church has as many members nearly as the Methodist Pyeng 
 Yang church, while our Pyeng Yang church has 377 members 
 and 1723 catechumens or probationers. A division of the 
 Kiung Kei province could also be made which would recognize 
 the equities of either Mission. Could we not suggest such a 
 division as this to the Methodist Board ? 
 
 These territorial partitions are better than rules designed to 
 prevent friction where Missions are occupying the same ground. 
 Still when no division can be secured such rules are necessary. 
 The following were adopted by the Northern Methodist and our 
 Missions in 1893 : 
 
 “ I. Resolved that we advise that as a general rule the com- 
 mon occupation of smaller cities and the districts around them, 
 is not the most profitable way of utilizing our forces ; but that 
 open ports and towns having a population of over 5,000 should 
 be open for common occupation ; and especially so when they 
 are needful bases for the occupation of the regions beyond. 
 
 2. When a town of less than 5 000 inhabitants has been 
 established as a sub-station by the missionary in charge of the 
 district (a sub-station being understood to be a place where 
 inquirers or Christians regularly assemble for worship on the 
 Lord’s Day, or a place visited not less than four times a year, 
 two visits at least to be made by the foreign missionary in 
 person) it should be considered as occupied, and we deem it 
 inadvisable for another Mission to begin work there ; but the 
 discontinuance of work for six months shall leave it an open 
 field. 
 
42 
 
 3- That societies wishing to begin new work or to extend, 
 be strongly recommended to take into consideration unoccupied 
 territory, so as speedily to cover the whole field. 
 
 4. We recognize the inherent rights of every church-member 
 to transfer his membership to another denomination ; but per- 
 sons whose names are on the records of a church as members or 
 candidates, shall not be received by another church without a 
 letter of recommendation from those in charge. 
 
 5. That we mutually respect the acts of discipline of the 
 various churches. 
 
 6. Helpers, students, teachers and assistants in any depart- 
 ment of the work shall not be received in any capacity what- 
 ever by another Mission without the written consent of the per- 
 son to whom they are responsible. 
 
 7. That, as a general rule, books should be sold and not 
 given, and that we should have uniformity of prices.” 
 
 Bishop Foster, I was told, who was the visiting bishop at 
 that time, however, disapproved of these regulations, not be- 
 lieving in the principles of comity which they expressed, and 
 so the action of the Methodist Mission was nullified. The rules 
 have nevertheless been the practical policy of the Missions 
 since. 
 
 A better plan than these regulations propose or than terri- 
 torial division, is to be found, I believe, in Church union. I wish 
 there could be one Church of Christ in Korea. The Catholics 
 and the missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel, will not have anything to do with the Evangelical mis- 
 sionaries, but the latter surely should unite, now, when the ele- 
 ments of the Korean Church are plastic. What are the matters 
 which divide these new bodies of Christians in comparison with 
 their common interests and beliefs ? There is one Presbyterian 
 church at present. The Methodist churches have not united 
 yet. Dr. Reid is opposed to union, such as I believe in. Such 
 opposition will probably make it impossible now, but I may live 
 longer than Dr. Reid, and shall see more of the future, and am 
 sure that Jesus Christ is a bond of union stronger than the 
 forces of separation which divide His brethren into alien com- 
 panies. 
 
 5 . It is unnecessary to make any extended statement regard- 
 ing the Mission properties in Korea. All the information that 
 was gathered is available for the Board when need for it arises. 
 If the Boys’ School buildings are sold, our original properties in 
 Seoul will be considerably diminished, but we have all we need. 
 All of our properties in Seoul, Fusan, and Gensan are secure, 
 and doubtless the Pyeng Yang properties also are, yet these 
 last are not in an open port. The open port in the north is Chik- 
 nampo, and if Russia wished we might possibly be molested in 
 Pyeng Yang. The only piece of property we have there of 
 which the American Legation has official cognizance is the 
 original house of Mr. Moffett’s. Our rights there have really 
 
43 
 
 been acknowledged, however, as the Legation recovered pay- 
 ment for damages done to that house by the Japanese during 
 the war, and from the local magistrate. The Korean Govern- 
 ment and people have had most friendly feelings toward AiiieHca 
 and Americans, and are not likely of their own accord to obstrucf 
 our residence anywhere in the country. • 
 
 The Mission has wisely pursued the policy of laying the 
 responsibility for building churches and places of worship upon 
 the people. Occasionally they have been given a little help, but 
 as a rule the people have provided such places themselves. Both in 
 the Chang Dong church in Seoul, and at Pyeng Yang need is 
 felt for larger church buildings than it is believed the people 
 can provide. At Pyeng Yang it is proposed to build one that 
 will seat, on the floor, of course, fifteen hundred people. In these 
 larger enterprises some of the missionaries believe help should 
 be given on a larger scale. It may be that for such large build- 
 ings timbers will be needed, which the people could not provide. 
 They would have to be shipped from Manchuria, or from the 
 extreme north. It seems to me, though, that all which the peo- 
 ple can provide they should, so that the churches may seem to 
 them their own and not the property of foreigners, even of the 
 missionaries. 
 
 6. During the past year Dr. Underwood and Dr. Vinton 
 have published at no expense to the Mission a weekly paper 
 called J'he Christian News^ printed, of course, in Unmun, the 
 written vernacular. This and Dr. Jaisohn's paper are the only 
 publications of the sort in Korean. They have had a great 
 influence, in quickening thought, in spreading good knowledge, 
 and in showing the people that their own language was good, 
 that Chinese need not be their master, and in speaking directly 
 to the heart of the people. The Korean Government itself or- 
 dered 467 copies of the Christiaii News to be sent, one to each of 
 the 367 magistracies throughout the country and ten to each of 
 the ten departments of the central government, the King himself 
 receiving his copies. In a number issued while we were in 
 Korea, the pictu.^e of the King was published by his permission. 
 
 The paper has contained the Sunday-school lesson, translation 
 and notes, and a great deal of useful information. Some of the 
 missionaries feel that Dr. Underwood ought to give the time 
 devoted to the paper to Bible translation, but he seems ready to 
 give all the time necessary to this, and do all his other work 
 besides. While sympathizing with the desire to have the Bible 
 in Korean as soon as it can be well and thoroughly done, and 
 not believing that this paper should absorb all of any man’s 
 time, it still seems to me a very useful work. It is an eight-page 
 paper, one page for contributed articles, one for farming, one 
 for arts and sciences, one for editorials, one for condensation of 
 the court gazette, one page and two columns for Sunday-school 
 lesson, one page and a little more for church and missionary 
 news and a prayer-meeting talk. On the last page are foreign 
 
44 
 
 news and advertisements. One advertisement secured the sale of 
 fifteen American plows. 
 
 7 . With the new missionaries who have been sent out, and with 
 the return of the old ones, Korea’s stations will be fairly well 
 supplied. There is a possibility of developing a Mission too 
 fast, as well as too slowly. It seems to me that, unless new sta- 
 tions are opened, our medical force is large enough, and that 
 some, at least, of the new medical women who have been sent 
 are needed more in the evangelistic work than in localized med- 
 ical work. Our experience in Laos and elsewhere, moreover, 
 has shown the unwisdom of locating stations too near together; 
 and if new stations are opened, it seems to me that they should be 
 in districts where it is evidently unsatisfactory to do the work 
 by itineration or occasional visitation and residence. Dr. Nevius 
 contended that three stations were sufficient for our work in 
 North China, Peking, Chinanfu and Chefoo. That view has not 
 prevailed. But we are in danger of going to the other extreme, 
 and of so multiplying stations as to waste Mission force by over- 
 lapping spheres of influence. The unconscious influence of the 
 mere presence of a Mission station is powerful, and too near 
 proximity of stations is a profligate use of this influence in lands 
 where so much territory is yet unpossessed. 
 
 At the same time God is opening Korea now in a remarkable 
 way. In scores of villages the people want teachers of Chris- 
 tianity. It is easy to exaggerate the spiritual significance of 
 these wants as the people express them, but they mean as much, 
 I believe, as that Paris workingman meant who told Dr. McAll 
 that there were many ready to hear a man who came and spoke 
 to their real needs, and so voiced the call which led to the found- 
 ing of the McAll Mission. I believe that it is well within the 
 truth to say that the field is as ripe in Northern Korea. We 
 must not let such great opportunities pass by. We could never 
 do it and face the Lord of the Harvest. If next year more men 
 are needed we should send more, who could, in a measure, 
 relieve some who know the language and are where the needs 
 are less pressing, that they, too, may press into the fields that are 
 white. The present opportunities must be seized by men who 
 can speak. Our new men can help only by relieving such, and 
 by preparing for the opportunities for which we hope several 
 years hence. 
 
 Of much of the country we as yet know little. Only the 
 extreme southern end of Ham Kiung has been traversed, and 
 that only in small part. The north of the province is unknown. 
 It should be visited. The Mission proposes to have Mr. Swallen 
 make a full itinerating tour. I approve of this if it is done 
 thoroughly. A mere coast journey or a short trip will not suf- 
 fice, however. If the Methodists would take this province and 
 leave us Pyeng Yang, each could be better worked. No itiner- 
 ating trips have been made as yet to the extreme north of Pyeng 
 Yang, where Mr. Ross reported some years ago many Christians. 
 
45 
 
 Huichon, one of the most important places in the north, is nearer 
 to Pyeng Yang than to Moukden. 
 
 It can scarcely be hoped that dangers and perils are not 
 approaching in this work in Korea. At a gathering of native 
 Christians we asked what they thought the possible dangers to 
 the Church were, and they answered: (i) The jealousy of the 
 Confucianists, as they see the work growing ; (2) the stealing of 
 evil men into the Church ; (3) success and corruption. “ We 
 shall need persecution,” said Pong. “ If a man wants rice, there 
 must be hulling and beating before the fine rice can be got,” 
 “Then the men of little faith will dropout and become persecu- 
 tors,” added another. (4) The coming of unbelievers from 
 abroad, who will deny the truths of Christianity ; (5) faction 
 and schism in the Church ; (6) incoming of Western civilization 
 and the spirit of money-getting. The missionaries have tried to 
 prepare the Christians for these dangers which are before them. 
 The work has been solidly done. Now when the testing comes 
 we can only watch and see how much is chaff and dross, and 
 how much will abide the trying of the fire. 
 
 Let us hope that for many years yet the work may flourish 
 prosperously. It has but just begun. There are only hundreds 
 of Christians now where we must pray and work for thousands. 
 The churches are small and unorganized, not ready for any heavy 
 ecclesiastical development. The people are in the early stages 
 of instruction. There will be need for schools and solid educa- 
 tional work. Let us hope that the same Spirit who has thus far 
 guided the Mission so wisely, may direct the Mission and the 
 Board in their future conduct of their interesting work. 
 
 V. Conclusion. 
 
 This report completes my reports to the Board on the work of 
 the past year. I am grateful to God for the privilege of having 
 visited the Missions in Persia, China, Japan and Korea, and for 
 His loving goodness and care. It has been a great blessing to 
 see the work and to mark its solid and enduring character ; to 
 meet the native Christians and to be unmistakably assured of 
 their genuineness, earnestness and sincerity, and, best of all, I 
 am tempted to say, to associate with the missionaries in such 
 close and intimate friendship, to visit them in their homes, to 
 accompany them on their journeys, to watch them at their work. 
 In these days when they are so often criticized and the spirit of 
 distrust is so prevalent, I wish to bear unhesitating and honest 
 testimony to their fidelity, their devotion, their capacity. They 
 are worthy, I will not say of admiration — for that, they do not 
 care — but of confidence and love. There may be exceptions. 
 Perhaps I have met a few. But I am not sure. I believe in our 
 missionaries with all my heart, and I trust them; and I believe 
 and trust more fully now even, at the end of this tour, than at the 
 
46 
 
 beginning. And my respect for their character and ability has 
 been deepened, on the whole, by observation of their work, their 
 practical wisdom and their results. 
 
 Many are saying in these days that the mission work needs 
 to be established on new foundations ; that it must rest in its 
 presentation to the Churches on new grounds of appeal, and that 
 in the adaptation and offer of the Gospel to the nations, new state- 
 ments and altered methods are the requirement of the hour. 
 Why ? Has a new Gospel supplanted the old ? Has human nature 
 altered? Do not the old grounds of appeal still hold, that men 
 everywhere utterly need the Gospel, and that the Savior is the 
 Savior of the world ? Are not the old methods of loving persua- 
 sion, of Christian nurture, of solid training, the only satisfactory 
 methods still ? If we are prepared to abandon our evangelical 
 convictions, or to adopt views of human nature — what it is and 
 what it will do — which our own natures belie, we can make rad- 
 ical changes in our grounds of appeal and in our methods of 
 work. Not otherwise. 
 
 And yet I believe there is room for improvement. There as- 
 suredly is in the matter of committing the home Church to this 
 its chief work and mission. And in our methods of work on the 
 field there is room for a better balance, a wiser adaptation of 
 means to end, a wiser proportion of work. The great difficulty 
 is that the home Church projects itself upon the mission field, 
 with the ideas and methods adjusted to our advanced condition, 
 while the conditions on the mission field are elementary and 
 primitive. Our philanthropic, sociological, educational schemes 
 are good enough for our conditions, perhaps, but what is needed 
 on the mission field is the simplest adjustment of forces to do 
 the simplest fundamental work. Men and women in primitive 
 grades of society, compared with ours, are to be met and given 
 entrance to the Christian Church. It must be in a form level 
 with their needs and uses. It must be their Church, not our 
 Church, which is established — a Church which can be immedi- 
 ately theirs, not one for which, or for the full enjoyment or admin- 
 istration of which, they need a long social or industrial prepara- 
 tion. To this end educational and philanthropic work should be 
 ruled with clean and sharp aim, and held in just limitation. To 
 deem and do as good on the mission field, as part of the mission 
 enterprise, anything and everything which is regarded as good 
 at home, is wasteful, and it is not sensible. We are the preach- 
 ers of Moses and the prophets, and, most of all, of Christ. We 
 are the founders of His Church, not in the sense of its American 
 institutional development, but in the sense of its primitive spir- 
 itual simplicity. Let us make all our work tell in the accom- 
 plishment of these definite, elementary, spiritual ends. To who- 
 ever does this, all other things will be added in God’s time, which 
 is better than man’s prematureness. 
 
 Yet, though the aim be simple — the planting of Christ Himself, 
 not as an idea or an institution, but in His living force of law 
 
47 
 
 and love, in Persia, China, Korea and Japan — the work is com- 
 plex and extensive, or, what is the same thing, it will always 
 appear to be so. But its difficulties will be less and its policies 
 will be clearer, as the aim is kept well defined, as the spirit of 
 strength and purity, of simplicity and life is recognized as fun- 
 damental and essential, and as experience develops those prac- 
 tical limitations of project and method which are set by the spirit 
 of God in things themselves and in the nature of man. 
 
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Analysis of Report. 
 
 I. — Introduction 3 
 
 II. — Historical Sketch 3_io 
 
 1. Roman Catholic Missions 3-5 
 
 2. Development of Protestant Work 5-7 
 
 (i.) The Motives of the Christians 7-10 
 
 (2.) Is the Work Genuine? 10 
 
 III. — Methods and Policy of the Mission n-35 
 
 1. The Native Church 11-24 
 
 (i.) Organization 11-14 
 
 (2.) Requirements for Membership 14-19 
 
 (3.) Care of the Native Church 19-20 
 
 (4.) Self-Support 20-24 
 
 2 . Education 24-30 
 
 3. Medical Work 30-31 
 
 4. Woman’s Work ^ 32-33 
 
 5. Missionaries 33~35 
 
 IV. — Problems and Dangers 35-50 
 
 1. Political Aspects of Christianity 35-39 
 
 2. The Political Condition of Korea 39-41 
 
 3. The Problem of Bible Translation 4^-45 
 
 4. Comity 45-47 
 
 5. Property 47“48 
 
 6. “The Christian News” 48-49 
 
 7 . Are More Missionaries Needed ? 49-50 
 
 V. — Conclusion 50-52 
 
I 
 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 
 i' 
 
 . 
 
 
I. Introduction. 
 
 1 present herewith my report on the work in Korea, where 
 Mr. Grant raid I spent the month of August. Leaving Naga- 
 saki, Japan, on the evening of August ist, we reached Fusan 
 the next morning. From Fusan we went by sea to Chemulpo, 
 and thence in a small coasting ship to the Ta Tong River, in 
 the north, up which we sailed in a small boat to Pyeng Yang. 
 After a week in Pyeng Yang we traveled across the country to 
 Seoul, where we attended the mission meeting. After ten 
 days there we rode overland, through a flooded country, from 
 Seoul to Chemulpo, whence we sailed for China on September 
 2d. I would express to the Board my appreciation of Mr. 
 Grant’s assistance and companionship. We were together 
 ■constantly for the three months spent in Central China, Japan, 
 and Korea, and it is impossible to overstate the great comfort 
 and help he ivas ever giving to us and to the missionaries. 
 
 IL Historical Sketch. 
 
 The Korea Mission is one of the youngest Missions of the 
 Board. Several Missions have been organized since its institu- 
 tion, but they were in fields previously occupied. The Korea 
 field is the last field entered by the missionaries of our Church. 
 Yet in none is the work meeting with more marked success, or 
 are the prospects for the future more bright. 
 
 I. Roman Catholic Missions. — Our first missionary, H. 
 N. Allen, M. D., now the Minister of the United States to Ko- 
 rea, entered the field in 1884, and so began resident Protestant 
 mission work. The Rev. John Ross, of Manchuria, had visited 
 the Korean frontier in 1873, and had subsequently translated 
 portions of the Gospel of Luke, and then the whole New Tes- 
 tament, into Korean, and had even visited the valleys of the 
 extreme north of the country, where many were found ready to 
 confess Christ and to receive baptism. 
 
 Long before these efforts, however, the Roman Catholic 
 missionaries had toiled and striven, rejoiced in success and 
 gladly met martyrdom among the Koreans. The Very Rever- 
 end Father Wallays says that as early as 1592, under the great 
 general Hideyoshi, Japanese Christians “were able to announce 
 the true religion to their Korean prisoners,” but the zeal of Fa- 
 ther Gregory de Cespedes among the people in 1594 met with 
 no success. For two centuries practically nothing was accom- 
 plished, although the Catholic priests in Peking are said to 
 
4 
 
 have taught from time to time the ambassadors whom the. 
 King of Korea sent annually to take tribute to the Emperor of 
 China. Toward the close of the last century, however, a group 
 of students, seeking enlightenment, interested themselves in. 
 Christian books, which had found their way in from China. 
 This led to visits to the Catholic missionaries in Peking, fresh 
 supplies of books with crucifixes and images, and the conver- 
 sion of a number of men, who, in the absence of any priest, 
 baptized one another and took Christian names and soon or- 
 ganized a church, patterned, so far as they knew, after the 
 Poman order. The movement spread, and, in spite of persecu- 
 tion and the banishment or beheading of the leaders, num- 
 bered, it is said, 4,000 Christians in 1794, the year in whicH 
 Jacques Tsin, a Chinese priest, reached Seoul. The inhibition 
 of ancestral worship, in 1791, led first to opposition, and, on 
 the death of the king, Chong Chong, in 1800, and the acces-sion 
 of the queen, a general royal edict against Christianity was is- 
 sued, ‘‘which wasto be writwith letters of blood in the annals of.' 
 Korea,” says Father Wallays’ chronicle. A second edict fol- 
 lowed in about a year, and the persecutions were severe but- 
 there seems to have been heroic stuff in many of these Chris- 
 tians, and they continued to work and spread in spite of the- 
 depletion made by oppression and apostasy, and to appeal for 
 a foreign pastor until at last, Pierre Philibert Maubant arrived 
 in 1835. In 1838 there were said to be 9,000 Christians. In 
 July of the next year a fresh edict appeared, and the three 
 European priests then in the country were executed. In 1845 ’ 
 Bishop Ferreol reached Seoul, and shortly after there were- 
 more martyrs, but 11,000 Christians were reported in 1850, 
 with five young men studying for the priesthood. Five more 
 priests came in 1857, and the Roman Catholic population was ■ 
 reckoned at 16,500. Long ere this, however, other than spir- 
 itual motives had stolen in. The persecution of 1801 was fed' 
 in part by the queen’s fear of the nobles of the opposing party 
 in the state, who had joined the Catholics, and later the Chris- 
 tians deliberately made appeals to foreign governments that 
 were treasonable. The political character of the Church was 
 made more pronounced by the great prestige Christianity 
 gained through the French-English war against China in i860. 
 It was feared that the armies would come to Korea, and “in 
 many instances people of rank humbly sought the good favor 
 and protection of the Christians. Medals, crosses and books 
 of religion were bought in quantities. Some even publicly 
 wore them on their dress, hoping for safety when the dreaded 
 invasion should come.” Four more missionaries came in 
 i86i, and there were 18,000 Christians. In 1864, four more' 
 
5 
 
 came; there were 1,976 baptisms; a press was established and 
 a new seminary opened in the mountains ; and then, in 1866, 
 scores and hundreds were killed, and every priest was swept out 
 of the land. Of four bishops and nineteen priests, fourteen 
 were martyrs and four others died. The Tai Won Kun, the 
 father of the present King-, who is still living, and is an element 
 of constant disturbance in Korea, conducted these last and 
 most furious persecutions, the echoes of which did not die 
 away until the doors of the Hermit Nation at last opened to 
 foreigners in 1882. The Roman Catholics reported last year 
 28,802 members, twenty-six European priests, three native 
 priests and thirteen other native preachers. 
 
 II. Development of Protestant Work. — Beginning silent- 
 ly, to avoid opposition. Dr. Allen securing his safety by acting 
 as physician to the American legation, our work has grown 
 steadily and powerfully. After eight years a second station 
 was established, in 1892, at Gensan, on the sea-coast, in the 
 northeast. In 1893, the station at Fusan, on the extreme south- 
 ern coast, was opened, and in September, 1894, the property at 
 Pyeng Yang, on which our mission buildings at that station 
 stand, was acquired. Meanwhile, other Missions had entered 
 the country: the Northern Methodists in 1885; the Canadian 
 Y. M. C. A. Mission in 1889 ; the Society for the Propagation 
 of the Gospel in 1890; the Australian Presbyterians in 1891; 
 the Southern Presbyterians in 1892 ; the Ella Thing Memorial, 
 a Baptist Mission, in 1895 ; and the Southern Methodists in 
 1896. None of these except the Northern Methodist and 
 the Southern Presbyterian, has more than two men connected 
 with it. 
 
 For some years our work grew slowly. But it was a new 
 field, and, compared with the growth in China, where Morrison 
 waited seven years for the first convert, the progress was ex- 
 traordinary even before the China-Japan war. Since then, the 
 work has advanced by leaps and bounds. In 1894, there were . 
 141 communicants, fourteen only having been added during 
 the preceding year. Then came the furrowing, renovating in- 
 fluence of the war, and now, after the most prosperous year 
 yet known, there are 932 communicants, 2,344 catechumens, 
 loi meeting-places, and 38 church buildings, the greater major- 
 ity of which are provided by tlje people with no aid from the 
 mission. It would give an incorrect idea to say that there are 
 53 native teachers, for almost all the Christians have been 
 trained to regard each disciple of Christ as of necessity a 
 worker for Christ and for men. The reports of the mission- 
 aries presented at the annual meeting set forth in fulness of 
 detail the wonderful work that is under way. These reports,. 
 
6 
 
 submitted herewith, need not be summarized here. Of Dr. 
 Underwood’s, Dr. Reid, of the Southern Methodist Mission, 
 said that in twenty years’ experience in China he had never 
 heard such a thrilling and exhilarating report, and having been 
 with Dr. Underwood on one long tour he could vouch that it 
 was well within the actual truth. Christianity has evidently 
 laid powerful hold upon the country. Instead of being called 
 “devil,” as missionaries and all foreigners are in interior China, 
 the Koreans use to the missionaries words of the highest re- 
 spect, and their bearing in the country leaves nothing to be 
 asked in the way of kindness and courtesy. Christians are 
 viewed with remarkable confidence and regard, instead of with 
 distrust and hate. Even in the south, where the direct results 
 have been scanty, this change has been marked. “Six years 
 ago,” one of the native Christians at Fusan told us, “I came 
 down through this province of Kiung Sang with Dr. Hardie. 
 We could not get meals at the inns, and when we preached 
 we met a perfect storm of derision. Now, we can get into the 
 inns anywhere, and derision has almost wholly disap- 
 peared.” In the north the Church has spread and penetrated, 
 as we saw nothing to surpass anywhere else in the world. We 
 visited one day a large and well-furnished temple of the Chin- 
 ese god of war, in the city of Pyeng Yang. The gates were 
 closed and locked, and the pavements were overgrown with 
 grass. At last a keeper who said he was there only because 
 it was a cheap place to lodge, let us in and showed us the for- 
 saken shrines and the unworshiped gods. “Why is this?” we 
 inquired. “Where are the worshipers?” “Oh,” said the man, 
 “there are so many people who believe in this Jesus doctrine 
 that no one comes here any more.” On the highways we met 
 men discussing Christianity. The sorcerers and devil-priest- 
 esses are losing trade and standing, and I might multiply evi- 
 dence beyond that furnished in the reports of the missionaries 
 to show that the Gospel is powerfully influencing the sensi- 
 bilities of the people. I may quote only a portion of a proc- 
 lamation recently issued by the governor of the province of 
 Whang Hai: “Our school was handed down to us by the sages 
 of old days, whose teachings and doctrines are forever un- 
 changeable. But of late the foreign religion came into the 
 country ; the foolish novelty-seekers have fallen into the for- 
 eign teaching, and they are unwilling to study and observe our 
 own religion. Is this not a danger to our doctrine? I have heard 
 a European say that if one country adopts the religion of an- 
 other the country will surely be destroyed. I believe it to be 
 true. Even foreigners entertain such a belief and give us the 
 hint, and we, the disciples of the saintly sages, must not be 
 
7 
 
 enticed into foreign teachings which destroy our venerable 
 customs and institutions. I desire our Confucian followers to 
 be more diligent in studying the classics, making it their true 
 religion. and to regard the new teaching as superficial doctrines. 
 Thus they will all become useful vessels of the state and ac- 
 cumulate great fortunes for the people.” That a provincial 
 governor should be so solicitous is a good indication of the 
 way Christianity is spreading. The churches are crowded. 
 Wherever the missionaries go they are welcomed and listened 
 to. The opportunities are unlimited. It is true that in the 
 northeast and southeast provinces, Ham Kiung and Kiung 
 vSong, the baptisms have been few, but the doors are as open 
 as in the west and north. A whole nation is as ripe for the 
 preaching of the Gospel as any nation could be. 
 
 (i) The Motives of the Christians. — Less than half a gen- 
 eration ago Korea was sealed against all missionary work and 
 foreign intercourse. And now the Christians are numbered by 
 the thousand ; thousands now are ready to hear. The whole 
 land is open. What are the reasons for this remarkable 
 change and for such an unusual movement? Through what 
 proximate and secondary causes has the great cause of the 
 Divine will been working? A just answer would be threefold: 
 (a) Japan’s victory over China made a profound impression 
 upon Korea. For twenty centuries Korea had been a vassal 
 state of the latter. Its government was modeled after that of 
 the Ming dynasty in China. Its literature and philosophy 
 were Chinese and Confucian. It had ever viewed with awe 
 its great and invincible patron empire. That little Japan 
 should conquer this mighty antagonist with arts and weap- 
 ons which she made everyone understand were borrowed from 
 Western civilization gave the Koreans a deep respect for the 
 West. They were ready to believe that the religion of the 
 West must be superior. Also they learned of the enormous 
 political power of Western nations, and many were anxious 
 to be on friendlv terms with the representatives of these na- 
 tions, as the people had been glad in i86i to wear crucifixes 
 and images to indicate their sym.pathy with the Catholics. In 
 the hope of assistance in lawsuits, or securing justice, or pro- 
 tection from oppression, or collecting debts, some turned 
 to the missionaries. It should be said that the mis- 
 sionaries have from the beginning resolutely antagonized 
 all such ideas and that the people have discovered this, 
 and also that scores who have been attracted in the first in- 
 stance by some such motives have almost at once been lifted 
 out of this low sphere and have passed on into the Church un- 
 der high and genuine motives. But the war and its political 
 
8 
 
 influences set men thinking and disposed them favorably to 
 Christianity. Because of the war and the advent of Western 
 ideas the squeezing of the officials stopped, taxes were levied 
 equitably, justice became less a stranger in the land. “I will 
 illustrate it by a parable,” said one native to us. “Before the 
 war it was as if out in the sea a big fish was eating up all 
 the little ones. Now the big fish has stopped.” .Besides all 
 this the war demoralized the spirit worshipers. It killed the 
 worship of the Chinese gods ; the people had seen their incom- 
 petence publicly demonstrated. And it cut away some of the 
 few remaining props of Buddhism. 
 
 (b) In the second place the people felt in many districts 
 that they had reached the bottom of misery. Justice as ad- 
 ministeied in their jails or magisterial yamens, for they had no 
 courts, was a travesty. Punishment was torture. One of the 
 saddest and most heart-sickening sights I ever saw in the 
 Pyeng Yang prison, where a score of beaten, festering prison- 
 ers sat on the ground with the prison gate wide open before 
 them and only turned vacant eyes at it and at us, out of the 
 depths of their weakness and agony. Poverty was added to 
 oppression, and feeling that nothing could bring them into a 
 worse condition, many were ready to welcome Christianity as 
 something which might haA^e good in it. Dissatisfaction with 
 the old life, its failures, miseries, disaffections, was wide- 
 spread, and prepared the way for the Gospel. “I explain the 
 movement toward Christianity on two grounds,” said one of 
 the native leaders at Pyeng Yang. “First, the grace of God. 
 Secondly, the people here have never desired to be yai^g bans. 
 They have been looked down on as low people by the Seoul 
 official class. They were ill-used by the officials sent up here. 
 They had nothing to trust in, and when the Gospel came they 
 accepted that as a hope and support. I do not know what the fu- 
 ture will be. Many are honest and will endure. Many who 
 do not fully believe will leave. These are the men who do 
 not study. There are men who have believed for the bene- 
 fit they could get from it, thinking that the Jesus Church had 
 power of which thev could make use. Others think that be- 
 ing low men they will get upon a higher social plane by com- 
 ing in. Many outsiders think it is a good thing and all right. 
 Few hate it now. Before the w^ar men reviled me. Now' they 
 commend my preaching. Why? They have seen the good lives 
 and acts of the Christians. The people have seen drunkards and 
 whoremongers reformed, and wonder at it. When a man be- 
 comes a Christian, the people see that all the other 
 Christians treat the new convert sociably and as an 
 equal, that the Christians love one another, and that 
 
9 
 
 they are constantly learning things and studying and 
 ^growing in character and intelligence.” These last 
 words describing the Church are true, and such a Church nat- 
 urally attracts others. They want to belong to such a society. 
 They have never known what it was to trust a fellow-man. Mu- 
 tual confidence among men has not existed in Korea. Its pres- 
 ence among the Christians has been a powerful attraction. 
 Morever, the barrenness of mind and spirit of the people made 
 the definite, strong, novel, vital message of Christianity ex- 
 ceedingly effective. Nona of the other forces of civilization, its 
 industrialism, its commercialism, its rationalism, its secularism, 
 has touched the people yet. As in Japan, Christianity was first 
 and with a free field. As in the early days in Japan, also, the 
 missionaries have gained a position of supreme dignity and 
 influence. They are called by the Christians by a title of af- 
 fection and honor, “moksa,” the word for shepherd, and also 
 for men of a certain high rank. The Christians treat the mis- 
 sionaries with a delightful respect mingled with genuine love. 
 The outside people also since the war are most courteous, even 
 stopping bullock carts in a muddy street so as not to splash 
 them. So high was their standing, and so great the confidence 
 in them, that the price of rice in the Pyeng Yang market rose 
 and fell with their movements after the war. Mr. Noble told 
 me that some of the people even said that the title “moksa” was 
 given to them because they held rank from the king. One 
 other fact that has contributed to the growth of the Church 
 has been the absence of anything like association or organiza- 
 tion among the Koreans. Universal distrust made.it impossi- 
 ble. The little Christian churches show the people the pos- 
 sibility of union, and such love as welded the early Christians 
 together has an irresistible attraction shown forth thus in Ko- 
 rea. 
 
 (c) Back of both these sets of motives, however, there 
 is real ground for believing that there is a genuine spiritual 
 movement. The ideas of sin and of salvation through Christ 
 seem to be the dominant ideas of the native Christians. Scores 
 ‘Of them at once explained their spiritual experiences to me in 
 these terms. To the question. Why did you accept Chris- 
 tianity? almost the invariable answers were, “Because of my 
 sins;” “Jesus as Son of God could alone deliver me from sin 
 and hell ;” “Christ is the only one to be depended upon;” 
 “Our minds were weak, and when we read the commands of 
 God we were anxious, for we were not able to meet them. In 
 Jesus we feel secure.” Many of these men are reading into 
 their acceptance of Christianity much that they learned after- 
 ward. The sense of sin might be stronger, but there appears 
 
lO 
 
 to be more of it than is common among- new Christians, and 
 much of it reminds one of the revivals among the Nestorians- 
 in the days of Fidelia Fiske. The simple doctrines of the old 
 Gospel have been preached by the missionaries without ceasing 
 or uncertainty. They have striven to make one definite im- 
 pression that they were charged with the message of salvation 
 from God, and the old truths of grace and need have been kept 
 foremost. The old religion of Korea had nothing with which 
 to satisfy those longings of the human spirit to which the Gos- 
 pel is addressed. The spiritual glory was gone from Bud- 
 dhism, which was of slight influence, and whose esoteric cults 
 only mocked all honest hearts. The popular worship was of 
 the spirits, a form of sorcery, and it only fed the fear it was de- 
 signed to allay, and provided for no forgiveness or fellowship. 
 The tonic, vertebrate message of Christianity stirs some true 
 spiritual response among such people. 
 
 (2) Are this response and the work that has grown out of 
 it genuine? Or will the bottom fall out? Or if not that, will the 
 novelty wear off and the work drop down to the sober patient 
 pace of most other fields? Whether it will or not, I firmly be- 
 lieve in the genuineness of this present work. Instances of in- 
 dividual conversion which are as thorough and satisfactory as 
 any that are seen in America warm church life full of 
 brotherly trust and co-operation, exConfucianists weep- 
 ing over their sins and crying in their prayers, giving 
 without urging and in full measure, and preferring" 
 this to any mission aid, such activity in personal 
 work, and such desire for souls as are not common at 
 home, men and women saved from adultery, drunkenness, and 
 gross sin, and made clean and pure, a fervent love of the Bible, 
 and a keen desire for more teaching, — Mr. Grant and I saw 
 enough of all this to satisfy us, even making allowance for all 
 merely superficial and imitative experience, that this work is 
 true. Such fresh origanility of spiritual ideas, and such novelty 
 of greeting and conversation, we had not elsewhere met. It 
 was a constant blessing to us, like real contact with the fresh 
 life of the early Christians ; and when forty or fifty of the Pyeng 
 Yang people walked five miles out with us in the rain as we 
 started for Seoul, and held a little farewell meeting with us at 
 a thatch-covered wayside church, and then called out love 
 and prayers after us until a turn in the road hid them from 
 sight, we were taken back to scenes in the Book of Acts not 
 more real or more full of sincerity and truth. I believe these 
 Koreans are as good Christians as the Corinthians, or Ga- 
 latians, or Ephesians were. 
 
IIL Methods and Policy of the Mission. 
 
 The methods which have been pursued by the missionaries 
 in their work seem to me eminently wise. I believe they have 
 in large measure found, as they have from the outset earnestly 
 sought, the right principle upon which to establish their work. 
 How large a part Dr. Nevius had in shaping these methods, it 
 is impossible to say; but it was not insignificant. In Mrs. 
 Nevius’s life of her husband is an account of their visit to Ko- 
 rea in 1890: “Writing from Japan a few weeks later, he saidL 
 ‘We had a delightful visit in Korea; and if the missionaries 
 there were not benefited by our sojourn with them, it was not 
 because they were not more than willing to profit by our sug- 
 gestions and advice.’ Indeed, it was touching to see how the 
 young missionaries clustered around him as around a father, 
 with aflection and deference, asking his advice on many ques- 
 tions. Evening after evening was spent in this way, he mak- 
 ing a careful study of the present conditions and wants of that 
 newly-opened country, and the missionaries ready to carry in- 
 to immediate execution suggestions and advice which com- 
 manded their approval.” Dr. Nevius’s “Methods of Mission 
 Work” constitutes part of the required course of study pre- 
 scribed for new missionaries, and those methods are ingrained 
 into the policy of the Mission. From other sources also the 
 Korean missionaries have sought light, desiring to avoid mak- 
 ing mistakes that had been made elsewhere. The labor to 
 which they were put in this effort and their uncertainty might 
 have been in large measure saved if there had been available for 
 them, as I believe there should now be, a manual of missionary 
 policy. Has not the time come for such a manual? After two 
 generations of separate experience, preceded by one genera- 
 tion under the American Board, are we not prepared to formu- 
 late those principles of administration and policy in which we 
 believe? The Missions would welcome such a manual. The 
 work needs it. 
 
 I. The Native Church. — To establish this, full of life and 
 activity, is the aim of the Mission. Under this title most of the- 
 features of the Mission’s poliev may be discussed. 
 
 (i) Organization. — Although there are ten or more 
 churches, there is yet no Presbytery. The missionaries have 
 been well aware of the dangers of prematurely organizing such 
 a body, and have preferred to wait until they had the materials 
 for it, and it could corneas the needed development of a Church 
 whose life required it. Meanwhile, a device is in operation 
 which has worked well thus far. In 1889 steps were taken ta 
 organize all the Presbyterian missionaries in Korea into one 
 
12 
 
 •council having many of the functions of the Missions, leaving 
 practically only the control of finances to each separate Pres- 
 byterian Mission. This plan never went further than an initial 
 stage. But in 1893 a Council was finally organized by the 
 -following action, recorded in the Council minutes October 24, 
 1893: “We hereby constitute ourselves the Council of the Mis- 
 sions in Korea holding the Presbyterian form of government, 
 to have advisory powers and such powers as may be delegated 
 to it by the Missions represented ; said Council shall consist of 
 ■ all such mem.bers of the Missions represented.” Of this Coun- 
 cil our own, the Southern Presbyterian, the x\ustralian Pres- 
 byterian, and any Canadian Presbyterian missionaries are 
 members. It really takes cognizance only of the ecclesiastical 
 questions, and is the seat of ecclesiastical authority, all other 
 questions remaining in the hands of the Missions. How this 
 ecclesiastical authority is exercised is explained by Article 
 XVI. of the By-Laws of the Korea Mission: “Until its or- 
 
 .ganization in accordance with Presbyterian usage, the native 
 Church 'shall be administered by the Council of the Missions 
 in Korea holding Presbyterian form of government; through a 
 session of five members, to be elected annually. All candidates 
 shall be examined by the session, or by some one empowered 
 by it ; and no baptism, shall be administered except by its 
 •sanction. When deemed expedient, a similar session may be 
 created by the Council in any other place. It shall be under- 
 stood by the Mission that to this session are delegated the 
 powers of a church session only. Additional powers may be, 
 from time to time, specifically delegated to it by the Council 
 'On recommendation of a Mission.” This Council has dis- 
 cussed such subjects as education, but it has legislated only 
 on such matters as church discipline, terms of entrance, 
 polygamous applicants for baptism, proposed ordination of 
 ^elders, etc. 
 
 In the practice of the ]\Iissions thus far the following prin- 
 ciples have prevailed: (a) That ecclesiastical and administrative 
 
 responsibility should not be laid upon the people until men tru- 
 ly qualified to discharge such responsibility have been raised 
 up, and the spiritual state of the Christians warrants and invites 
 it ; (b) that all Christians, from the outset, should be charged 
 with those practical responsibilities which are necessary to 
 their growth in grace and character and the just discharge of 
 their duties as disciplers, as well as disciples, that they should 
 be personal workers, be trained in worship and activity, and 
 develop all their ovm gifts ;Ic'l that the authority of the mission- 
 ary should be a spiritual authority, and that he should retain 
 the formal ecclesiastical responsibilities until there is a native 
 
13 
 
 Church and there are native elders or ministers to whom they 
 can be transferred; (d) that it is best to move slowly in the full 
 ordination of elders and organization of churches. There are 
 as yet no ordained ministers. Some elders were ordained in 
 the early stage of the work, before the Mission had learned to 
 be cautious, but the result was unsatisfactory, and there are, I 
 believe, none now ; (e) that meanwhile the groups of Chris- 
 tians be developed in the simplest and most ef¥ective way, all 
 being expected to work and to advance, and those men being 
 selected and appointed as leaders who are likely to grow into 
 suitable candidates for the eldership. 
 
 The following quotations from the By-Laws and Rules of 
 the Mission will illustrate these principles: Section A, Article V 
 — “Each sub-station shall have, if possible, a leader or leaders, 
 either selected by the people or appointed by the missionary in 
 charge, whose duty it shall be to take charge of the Sabbath 
 service in the absence of the helper or other person appointed 
 for that purpose. Except in special cases, leaders shall receive 
 no salaries from the Mission funds.’’ Article IX — “It shall be 
 the aim of the mission, when practicable, to provide a full 
 church organization at each sub-station, and even before this 
 shall have been accomplished, to supply the preaching^ of the 
 Gospel by a competent person at stated intervals.” Article X — 
 “On Sundays when there is no regular preaching at a sub- 
 station, the local leader or elder shall conduct, or invite some 
 competent person to conduct, an orderly service of worship, 
 consisting of the reading of the Scriptures and prayer, giving 
 an opportunity for short exhortations, and especially giving 
 careful attention to teaching the people the Scripture lessons 
 previously assigned by the missionaries in charge.” Section B, 
 Article IV — “Elders and deacons are officers of the church, as 
 laid down in the Scriptures and defined in the Presbyterian 
 Form of Government. They shall be ordained only after nom- 
 ination by the session of the Council, election by the church, 
 and subsequent instruction as to the duties of the office for at 
 least six months.” 
 
 This caution in ordaining men and in establishing a native 
 ecclesiastical body, like a Presbytery, lessens and postpones 
 certain dangers, but it does not wholly avert them. The times 
 of delicacy will arise when natives are ordained and ecclesiasti- 
 cal authority passes into their hands. The educadon through 
 which the native Church will have passed will fit it for that 
 day, it may be hoped ; and meanwhile I believe in the policy of 
 doing what I have advocated in preceding reports, namely, 
 committing to Mission and native Church organization the 
 functions which properly belong to each, and not confusing 
 
14 
 
 these by charging the Mission with the functions of the native 
 Church, or laying on the latter the functions of the former. 
 
 The Mission has recognized the necessity of encouraging 
 aspiration and growth by not hurrying the native Christians 
 through to the final stages of church organization at the outset.. 
 With people who have had the training through which native 
 converts have passed, it is hard to keep the spiritual idea up- 
 permost. The physical act of baptism is invested with mysteri- 
 ous power by them. The Lord’s Supper becomes of itself a 
 pledge of salvation. The proper church organization, once 
 established, is the attainment of the goal to many of them. 
 Authentic admission to this and participation in the holy rites 
 which mark entrance to it are all that are needed, and growth 
 and progress stop. Instead of setting all of these up at once^ 
 before they are appreciated, and in such a way as to leave no 
 room for encouraging inner progress by enlarged bestowal of 
 outer symbols and institutions, the Mission has wisely pursued 
 the policy of beginning most simply and informally, with all 
 the emphasis on real life and intelligence, meeting these as 
 they grow with appropriate advance toward full organization. 
 
 (2) Requirements for Membership. — .So strongly is the truth 
 of these last observations felt bv some that they distinguish be- 
 tween the baptism of the convert and his admission to the 
 Lord’s Supper, administering the former on simple profession 
 of faith, but exacting more rigorous requirements in connec- 
 tion with the latter, and holding out the significance of the lat- 
 ter and the partial character of the former to encourage the 
 convert to go on in his Christian life and not to stop with 
 conscience satisfied by the receiving of baptism alone. There 
 are many objections to this course, the chief one being that we 
 have no Scriptural or reasonable right to deny one of these or- 
 dinances to a man to whom we allow the other. If he is truly 
 enough Christ’s disciple to be baptized into His body, he is 
 entitled also to partake of that body provided for him. The 
 end held in view in the proposed discrimination is a good one. 
 but it can be secured without cheapening baptism or drawing 
 an imaginary line between it as an individual ordinance, the 
 right of the convert upon profession of faith, and the Lord’s 
 Supper, as a social ordinance, to which the convert can only 
 be received by a vote of a body of believers who are prepared 
 to take him into their fellowship. 
 
 Our Mission provides for the double stage which almost 
 all feel to be necessary, by the provision for a catechumenate 
 preparatory to baptism and full communion. Theoretically 
 those are to be admitted as catechumens who know and re- 
 pent of their sins, who believe in Christ as their Savior, and 
 
15 
 
 who before the congregation will rise and answer certain ques- 
 tions regarding their lives. After six months' probation as 
 catechumens, accompanied by instruction, the candidates are 
 re-examined by the missionary or missionaries and native 
 leaders, and either admitted, continued, or dropped. In the 
 present stage of the work there can be no baptisms without di- 
 rect missionary action. There are no natives who have au- 
 thority, and the Mission rules guard the administration of bap- 
 tism even by the missionaries, who, while charged with the 
 duty of administering discipline, examining and passing candi- 
 dates, are also enjoined “to report the same to church or mis- 
 sionary court having jurisdiction over the territory in which 
 the sub-station is and who shall take the necessary steps toward 
 the admission of the candidates, if in their judgment it is wise 
 and timely." 
 
 The examinations at the admission of candidates to the 
 catechumenate vary in care and thoroughness. Often these are 
 hasty, and of groups rather than individuals, especially where 
 the work has grown as rapidly as it has in the north. But an 
 examination at which I was present in Pyeng Yang, and which 
 Mr. Lee and some of the native leaders conducted, showed how 
 thorough is the work which the missionaries are trying to do. 
 The examinations of catechumens who desire baptism are, of 
 course, yet more searching. This one from Pyeng Yang will 
 serve as an illustration. Many of the questions were put to the 
 catechumen, whose name was Yen, by the native leaders them- 
 selves: “Why have you a mind to be baptized?" The candidate, 
 who was evidently under some feeling, replied, “Formerly I 
 did not know Christ; now I believe in Him." “Why?" “On 
 account of my many sins. I have sinned much." “What kind 
 of sins?" “I know scarcely any sins that I have not com- 
 mitted." “What ones?" asked Ye, a native leader of great 
 capacity and penetration. “I have worshiped spirits. I did 
 not know that I was sinning before I heard of Jesus. I heard 
 His words that the people of the world are sinners, and that He 
 had come to stand in sinners’ stead. I learned this from a man 
 named Chu." “Who is Jesus?" “The Son of God. The Bible 
 taught me this, and that He had come and died and lived again." 
 “Has Christ borne your old sins?" “Yes, He has." “If you 
 died before baptism would you go to heaven?" “Yes." “Is 
 baptism not useless, then?" “It is a sign of union with Christ, 
 showing that I am a part of the body of Christ." “Do you 
 observe the Sabbath?" “I have done so since I became a cat- 
 echuman." “Why?" “Because it is a holy day." “What is 
 your business?” “I am a go-between or middle-man." “Fair- 
 days come on each fifth day. When they fall on Sunday do you 
 
i6 
 
 still observe the day?” “Yes, I have done so for seven months.”' 
 “Do yon love Jesus?” “Yes; He saved me and will give me 
 new life.” “Do you love your wife and children?” “Yes. We 
 used to fight. I got drunk in those days. Now I love her and 
 I love Jesus more than all.” “Do you understand the Lord’s 
 Supper?” “I think so. It is kept so as not to forget Jesus. The 
 eating and drinking are marks of our being joined to Christ.” 
 “Do you still sin?” “I cannot help doing wrong daily, but I 
 pray to God when I do.” “Does God hear you for the good- 
 ness of your praying? Have you any merit?” “No. He- 
 does it for Christ’s sake. As for merit, I have not the slightest 
 little bit.” “How do you know you are forgiven?” “The Bible 
 says that if we confess, we are forgiven. I believe it.” “Why 
 do you believe the Bible?” “It is the Word of God.” “How 
 do you know?” “The story of- the shepherds and the coming 
 of the wise men make me think that it is true.” “Have you 
 ever had a concubine?/’ “No.” “Do you drink?” “I. was a 
 hard drinker, but not now. This body is not mine. If I abuse 
 it, I shall receive eternal punishment.” “Do you speak the 
 truth?” “I have lied even while I was a catechumen, about the 
 price of goods so as to make a ‘squeeze,’ but I have quit. It is 
 hard in my business, but I cannot lie and be Christ’s disciple.” 
 “Tell of your experience as a catechumen.” “Well, other mid- 
 dlemen will not have anything to do with me, now that I have 
 become a Christian. I am able to read the Bible in both Chinese 
 and Korean, and since becoming a catechumen I have been go- 
 ing to the church every, night, where a number of us meet and 
 read. I have preached to my wife and children, but only my 
 wife and one son have come yet to believe and to do.” “What 
 is your idea of God?” “I know that He is the very high spirit.” 
 “Where is He?” “There is not one place where He is not.” 
 “Has God power?” “Yes. He has power to deliver us from 
 wicked devils.” “Do these tempt you much?” “Yes; if I 
 don’t keep reading the Bible I am constantly tempted to gam- 
 ble, to commit adultery, etc.” “Have you given up sacrifice?”' 
 asked Ye. “Yes.” “What do you do on the day of ancestral 
 worship?” “I go to the church on that day.” “Can Christ 
 keep you from sin?” “Yes, if I trust him with all my strength.”' 
 “But will He continue to do what He has done?” “Can I 
 think otherwise of Him?” was the rejoinder. “You can’t see 
 the Lord,” said Kim; “how do you know all this?” “I be- 
 lieve, therefore I know.” “I fear,” said Mr. Lee, “that in about 
 six months you will quit this business.” The man lookea up 
 sharply. “Not so,” he said. “Do you know,” the questioner 
 resumed, “that Jesus loves you?” “If he had not loved me. 
 He would not have died for me. From the time He died until 
 
17 
 
 now I know that His love was bestowed on me.” “But how do- 
 you know,” I asked, “that Jesus died for Koreans? was it not 
 for Europeans only?” “No,” he said, keenly ; “He died for the- 
 whole world,” as though I had suggested depriving him of his 
 own. “We have asked a great many questions now,” said Ye, 
 as though satisfied. I told the man, then, that we were glad to 
 welcome him into the great society of our Savior, made up of 
 millions from every- land, and that though we should never see 
 him again here we should meet him above at the reunion eter- 
 nal. “That is a thankful word,” he replied as with glowing 
 face he passed out, and Chung, one of the leaders, added, “I 
 never thought before of that not meeting, and then meeting - 
 above. That was a good word. I am glad.” Then the meet- 
 ing closed with Ye’s calling the attention of the others to a pas- 
 sage he had found in the thirty-first chapter of Exodus that was 
 stronger on the Sabbath, he thought, than anything in the New 
 Testament. And I went out thinking of the session meeting in 
 Drumtochty and its parallel in Pyeng Yang. The whole story 
 will show the spirit of the men and the movement as well as 
 illustrate the point on which I have cited it. 
 
 I have discussed in the report on China the question of the 
 standard of conduct to be expected of native Christians. It will 
 be necessary here only to quote the “Rules for the Native- 
 Church in Korea,” which are read aloud when catechumens 
 are baptized and are assented to by them at that time publicly: 
 
 “These rules are not for those outside of the Church, but 
 since they have been made for those inside the Church, anyone 
 whosoever that believes, and having come into the holy Church 
 is receiving baptism, must of necessity obey them. The only- 
 way for outsiders to enter the Church is to repent of and for- 
 sake their sins, and trust in the Lord. 
 
 “I. First, since the Most High God hates the glorifying 
 and worshiping of spirits, follow not the custom, even the hon- 
 oring of ancestral spirits, but worship and obey God alone. 
 
 “H. The Lord’s Day being a day of rest and a God-ap- 
 pointed holy day, let neither man nor beast do any work there- 
 in, even to the pursuance of one’s livelihood ; unless it be ab- 
 solutely necessary work, let nothing be done. Labor diligently 
 six days, and as for this day, observe it strictly. 
 
 “III. Since the filial reverencing of parents is something- 
 which God has commanded, during the life of your parents 
 piously reverence them, and using all strength be faithful to 
 them as by the command of the Lord. 
 
 “IV. Since God has appointed one woman for one man, 
 let there be not only no abandoning of each other, but let there* 
 be a wife and no concubines, a husband and no lewdness. 
 
i8 
 
 “V. Since the doing of the holy doctrine is the first thing 
 to be done, let every person persuade those of his own house, 
 praising and praying, and with one mind trusting and obeying 
 the Lord. 
 
 “VI. Since God has ordered that we shall live by work- 
 ing, let no one eat and be clothed in idleness. Be not lazy ; tell 
 no lies ; be not covetous ; steal not ; but by all means follow 
 an upright livelihood, and using strength, feed yourselves and 
 your families. 
 
 “VII. The Holy Scriptures not only forbid drunkenness 
 and gambling, but since from these things spring quarreling 
 and fighting and killing and wounding, do not dare to commit 
 them. Also do not make, eat, or sell either wines or opium, 
 and keep not a gambling house, and thus debauch the conduct 
 of men.” 
 
 For a long time the Mission was undecided as to the right 
 ground to take with reference to the baptism of polygamous 
 candidates. The minutes of the Council show how thoroughly 
 and conscientiously the question was studied over ; while two 
 papers, one by Mr. Baird and one by Mr. Gifford, are among 
 the most useful contributions to the literature on this subject. 
 The missionaries have settled down now on a policy unalterably 
 opposed to the baptism, of polygamists. I believe that this is 
 the right policy. It is not necessary to discuss it here, but in 
 case the question should ever becc5me a question for the 
 Board’s decision, I should wish to present views and evidence 
 in support of the position of the Korea Mission. 
 
 In the Pyeng Yang field of the Northern Methodist Mis- 
 sion, and, I presume elsewhere in this Mission, there are four 
 classes of native adherents: the first made up of full church 
 members, the second consisting of baptized probationers, who 
 have all the privileges of church membership save that they 
 cannot vote in church meeting and can be dropped without 
 church trial ; third, probationers ; fourth, inquirers. 
 
 It is fortunate that a high ideal is held up in the young 
 Korean churches, and that a warm, zealous life saves the 
 churches from being chilled by such requirements, and pre- 
 serves them from Pharisaism by making them evangelistic. The 
 difficulty of maintaining a high standard of life, while at the 
 same time dealing meekly and gently with those who err, and 
 whom patient treatment may bring back, is evident. It is too 
 much to expect that all the laws of heredity and environment 
 can be overleaped in a day. And the effort to be true to God 
 and His law, and also to God’s creatures and the laws of their 
 lives, is a task of supreme difficulty. Such quotations as these 
 from the minutes of the Council indicate the general line of 
 
9 
 
 action of the Mission; (i) “Resolved that Mr. Saw be informed 
 that the rule of the church is that no man can be a member 
 who holds complicated marriage relations with more than one 
 woman. That, in consequence of this, as information has come 
 to us that he is involved in such relations, he is hereby sus- 
 pended from membership until such time as he shall rectify 
 these relations to the satisfaction of the. session, and prove 
 himself the husband of but one woman.” “(2) Blank, guilty 
 of abuse of foreign influence, in attempting to enforce payment 
 of money by confining the debtor on missionary property in ab- 
 sence of the missionary. He was required to confess his sin be- 
 fore Chang Dong and Yun Mot Kol congregations, and sub- 
 mit to public rebuke from pastors in charge.” “(3) Yang Si 
 Yong, baptized May i, 1892. He left off attending service 
 when the school (in Gensan) was closed, has been very incon- 
 sistent, and seems never to have known the way of salvation. 
 The charges against him are drunkenness, disgraceful quarrel 
 unrepented of, failure to attend services and entire disregard 
 
 of the Lord’s Day, and the fact that Mr. S and the entire 
 
 church believe him to be a hypocrite and a lip-professioned 
 Christian. The committee, therefore, thinks that Mr. Yong’s 
 name should be dropped from the roll and he be forbidden 
 communion until he shows evidence of repentance.” 
 
 (3) Care of the native Church. — The policy of developing 
 the native Church slowly on its ecclesiastical side has been ac- 
 companied in the plans of the Mission by great emphasis on the 
 spiritual care and instruction of the native Christians or inquir- 
 ers, as the following quotations from the Mission rules will 
 show: 
 
 “'A sub-station consists of a number of Christians who 
 meet together on the Sabbath in a chapel or private room for 
 the worship of God. 
 
 Sec. A. Art. IV. It shall be the policy of the Mission to 
 unite as far as possible sub-stations which are in close proxim- 
 ity to each other. 
 
 Art. VI. All sub-stations shall be brought under the re- 
 view of the Mission each year, and shall be assigned to the 
 several members of the Mission, only providing that no sub- 
 station shall be taken out of the hands of the founder without 
 his consent. 
 
 Art. VII. It shall be the duty of each missionary having 
 charge of special sub-stations; 
 
 (1) To visit the sub-stations under his charge as often as 
 possible. 
 
 (2) To assign to native laborers under his charge their cir- 
 cuits, and give them instructions concerning their work. 
 
20 
 
 (3) To work out a course of Scripture instruction for each, 
 sub-station, in accordance with the general plan approved by 
 the Mission. 
 
 (4) To appoint or procure the election of a leader or lead- 
 ers, and to instruct them in their duties. 
 
 (5) To invite the leader or leaders, and one or two others, 
 as in their judgment they may see fit, to attend the theological' 
 class of the Mission nearest their home; to urge their attend-- 
 ance, and to report to the missionary or committee in charge 
 of the theological class, the names of those who will probably 
 attend. 
 
 (6) To administer discipline, to examine and pass candi- 
 dates for admission to the Church ; to report the same to church 
 or missionary court having jurisdiction over the territory in 
 which the sub-station is, who shall take the necessary steps 
 toward the admission of the candidates, if in their judgment it 
 is wise and timely.* 
 
 Art. VIII. Each missionary shall make an annual report 
 to the Mission concerning each of the sub-stations under his 
 charge, giving the number of applicants for baptism, the num- 
 ber of baptisms, the number suspended or excluded, together 
 with a full account of its condition. 
 
 Art. XIV. The regular establishment of new sub-stations 
 shall be encouraged only where there is time for the careful 
 oversight of the same, except where special indications of 
 Providence and openings for work call for their establishment. 
 
 Art. XV. It shall be our policy to establish strong, well- 
 manned sub-stations in important central positions, rather than’ 
 a large number of weak ones.” 
 
 Under the caption “Educational Work,” the plans of the* 
 Mission for the instruction of leaders will be presented. At-- 
 tention is called now merely to the fact that adequate super- 
 vision by the missionary is insisted upon. This means itinera- 
 tion, of course. The great need of the Mission now is for 
 more itineration of the best directed kind, and, accompanying 
 it, for more instruction of the native leaders and groups of 
 Christians. 
 
 (4) Self-support. — The last statistical report of the Mission- 
 for the eleven months ending September i, 1897, gave thenum- 
 ber of communicants at 932, and the total native contribution 
 at $971.12 silver; but this did not include, I think, many of 
 their gifts, between one hundred and two hundred dollars to 
 
 *Notb. — A s in other missions and mission stations, this power may be delegated 
 to the missionary about to vi.sit any sub-station or stations where distance or other - 
 circumstances might render it impossible forthe church or missionary court, as such, . 
 to act upon individual cases. 
 
21 
 
 the Indian Famine Relief Fund, and a great deal to other 
 causes. Nor did it include a great deal that the people have 
 furnished themselves for their own work. It did include 
 $260.50 supplied by the people toward church buildings, which 
 are very cheap, toward which the Board gave nothing. Of the 
 total congregational expenses of $562.68, the people are re- 
 ported as giving $545.16. It needs to be remembered also that 
 the great majority' of the working force are wholly self-sup- 
 porting, the Mission employing only five helpers apart from 
 the teachers, and the most widespread work being done now by 
 the unpaid leaders. Some of the churches not only support all 
 of their own work, but employ evangelists to give all of their 
 time to itinerating work. For example, of the Chang Yun 
 church, in Whang Hai Do, one of the missionaries writes; 
 “This church, our oldest sub-station, is entirely self-support- 
 ing, and not only so, but they support a regular evangelist to- 
 travel and carry on work in the surrounding country, pay the 
 traveling expenses of any approved workers that are willing to 
 do country work in the intervals of their secular labor, have 
 endowed their own day school, built for themselves a large, 
 substantial church, have contributed to the work in other sec- 
 tions; at a special collection taken recently, subscribed and 
 paid over to the Indian Famine Fund between $80 and $90,. 
 and now propose to support entirely a foreign missionary and 
 his wife, if such are sent to live in their neighborhood.” They 
 propose to give such a man rice for himself and his servants, 
 fuel, some money, and a farm which they will work for him 
 under his direction. 
 
 The spirit of a true self-reliance, unaccompanied by any 
 petulant jealousy or bumptious sense of independence, seems to 
 have been developed among the people. In upper Whang Hai 
 Do, for example, the sub-stations have multiplied greatlv — too 
 fast under the native unpaid leaders to allow the missionaries 
 to visit them carefully. A great need of books arose, and the 
 leaders suggested the establishment of three depositories in 
 different parts of the field where the people could go and pur- 
 chase books, but they deprecated the employment of paid col- 
 porteurs by the Mission, and they wished all the expenses to 
 be met by the charges for books. I was struck in going into 
 one of the four large Sunday schools in Pyeng Yang with the 
 fact that on the floor in the center of each group of men was a 
 little pile of money. I supposed it was the collection, but dis- 
 covered it was the money they paid simply for the lesson 
 leaves. Even those they had no desire to receive as a charity. 
 
 The secrets of this happy condition are two: first, there is a 
 genuine spiritual life in the hearts of these people ; and sec- 
 
22 
 
 ondly, they have been started on a right basis at the beginning. 
 The Mission rules are worthy of presentation: 
 
 “A leader shall be a native Christian, selected by the peo- 
 ple of a sub-station, or appointed by the missionary in charge, 
 whose duty it shall be to take charge of the regular services in 
 the absence of the person or persons appointed for that pur- 
 pose, and to have general oversight of the sub-station. 
 
 “A steward shall be a native Christian selected by the peo- 
 ple of a sub-station, or appointed by the missionary in charge, 
 to temporarily perform the duties of a deacon, but without or- 
 dination. 
 
 “All native agents receiving pay for Christian work, with 
 the work that they are doing, shall be brought by name before 
 the Mission at its annual meetings and assigned for oversight 
 to the various members of the Mission. 
 
 “Those native agents employed as preachers to the heath- 
 en at large, shall not spend their time in neighborhoods where 
 there are sub-stations. 
 
 “Nomemberof the Mission shall employ on pay any native 
 agent without station approval, except it be temporarily in 
 special cases. 
 
 “No one shall be hired to do occasional evangelistic work 
 in his own neighborhood. 
 
 “It shall be definitely understood that salaries paid to na- 
 tive agents are not salaries in the sense of payments for Chris- 
 tian work done, but rather providing them with the means of 
 support so that they may be able to give their whole time to 
 the work to which they believe they have been called. 
 
 “These salaries of native agents, while varying somewhat 
 of course, according to location and work, shall as nearly as 
 possible conform to a schedule prepared by the Mission at its 
 annual meeting. 
 
 “The missionary in charge shall do his utmost to lead each 
 sub-station to make an annual contribution, either for the sup- 
 port of the native agent laboring among them, or of persons 
 chosen by themselves, to labor in new fields, and to make con- 
 tributions for the poor, and other special objects. 
 
 “The introduction of the practice of having those who 
 come from a distance fed after the service on Sabbath, and 
 defraying expenses from the regular contributions of the 
 church, shall be strongly discouraged. 
 
 “Native agents shall be leaders, stewards, elders, deacons, 
 colporteurs, helpers, Bible women, licentiates, evangelists, and 
 pastors ; leaders, stewards, elders, and deacons shall receive no 
 pay for such services.” 
 
23 
 
 These rules are full of hard sense. The mission- 
 aries recognize that there is a proper use of money 
 in the employment of native agents, but they strive 
 for the fundamental principle that all Christians must 
 be workers, and that the work must grow from the 
 bottom up, and not from the top down. They firmly 
 • believe, and their experience confirms this belief, that Dr. 
 Nevius’s plan, as it' is called, is practicable and wise. They are 
 not deceived, as many who have never tried it seem to be, by 
 the idea that it does not allow any employment of native agen- 
 cy, or even a large employment of native agency, provided this 
 agency is adequately supervised and is used for proper work. 
 They do not believe that the use of it in such a way as to relieve 
 native Christians from their responsibilities as workers,or to de- 
 velop a set of men who preach to native Christians rather than 
 lead them in work and evangelize the non-Christians, or who 
 settle down into a narrow, localized work rather than broaden 
 out into virile, effective itineracies, is a proper use of mission 
 funds. 
 
 Somemay say that these plans work in Korea because the 
 work was stared right. Exactly so. Why may it not be started 
 right in all the new points where we are constantly opening 
 new work in other fields? Because we have not started right 
 in one part of a field is no reason why we should not start right 
 in another. Or some may say that these Korean Christians 
 are thoroughly converted. Exactly so. Is the Spirit of God 
 able and willing to do for them what He is unable and unwill- 
 ing to do for others? Or some may say that exceptional con- 
 ditions have favored the growth of the work. It is so, and in 
 many other fields the conditions are unfavorable. That may 
 make our work slower or smaller. It should not lead to the 
 adoption of wrong methods in it. Or sor»e may say that the 
 character of the Koreans is such as to make a strong, buoyant 
 movement like this possible in Korea, while it would not be 
 possible elsewhere. In a sense this is so. National character 
 has great influence. But in this regard the Koreans have al- 
 ways been ranked low, and especially in comparison with the 
 Chinese and Japanese. If such fresh, vital methods are pos- 
 sible in Korea, they ought not to be less possible in China and 
 Japan. 
 
 In any event the spirit of work and love is in the Korean 
 Christians. During our stay at Pyeng Yang we were having 
 constant evidence of it. One day an unpaid helper came in 
 reporting from his circuit thirty-one congregations he had 
 visited, and five which had sprung up, but which he had not 
 
24 
 
 been able to visit. The number of catechumens in each varied 
 from lo to lOO. The next day a helper from the North came 
 in reporting six congregations which had raised $127 for their 
 expenses and buildings, and nine unorganized groups of in- 
 quirers. Another afternoon the Christians had a picnic in hon- 
 or of Korea’s Independence Day. The flags with which they ^ 
 marched attracted a great crowd. This was an occasion which 
 they at once improved, and they preached the Gospel to the 
 crowd. This they did repeatedly to new crowds, and on their 
 way home stopped in the most public place in the city, and 
 one after another declared to the great throng the riches of 
 Christ. There was the power of a great life in these Christians. 
 They were fertile in plans of evangelization and indefatigable 
 in preaching Christ “daily and from house to house,” while 
 “they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, 
 praising God and having favor with all the people.” 
 
 An unqualifiedly favorable view of the condition of the 
 Korean Christians the missionaries were constantly discour- 
 aging, pointing out weaknesses and defects and shortcomings. 
 There are and will be many disappointments, and the work 
 may be brought up with a round check some day, as it was in 
 Japan, though from different causes. But if I should go on 
 and describe the churches in Seoul, the little groups of Chris- 
 tians in other stations, the Sunday schools, and individual 
 Christians, the favorable and encouraging elements would 
 greatly predominate. It appears to be a good Church, founded 
 on a good basis. 
 
 II. Education. — The Mission has moved as cautiously, 
 
 and it seems to me as judiciously in some regards, in the edu- 
 cational work as in the development of the native Church. The 
 last report states that there are ten day schools with 166 pupils. 
 There were at that time also tw^o boarding-schools, both in 
 Seoul, one for boys, with 35 pupils, and one for girls, with 38 pu- 
 pils. The latter was established in 1888, and the former in 
 1886. The boys’ school began as an orphanage, and part of 
 the instruction was in English. In 1890 English was dropped 
 and the orphanage idea was abandoned as unsatisfactory. At 
 the meeting last September, wEen Mr. Grant and I were pres- 
 ent, it was unanimously voted to close the school for the pres- 
 ent. There were the following reasons for this: (i) the 
 
 evangelistic work is imperatively urgent. There are openings 
 everywhere. These may be closed shortly. At present the 
 field seems white, and all available men, with the language 
 and experience, should go out among the people. Sending 
 new missionaries prepares for future work, but it does not do 
 
25 
 
 the work which is now crying to be done. (2) There is little 
 demand from the native Christians as yet for higher educa- 
 tion. Their great needs are for Bible instruction and primary 
 schools. It will be to their interest to wait a little before de- 
 veloping a higher school. (3) The old school had not been 
 satisfactory. It was in the main a primary school, only a few 
 ^ boys being in it who were capable of receiving advanced in- 
 struction ; and it seemed best to turn the primary department 
 over to one of the Seoul churches as a day school, to be sup- 
 ported by it, when the so-called academic department quietly 
 went out of existence, so leaving the way clear for a clean start 
 with a new and real high school, when the Mission is ready for 
 it. (4) There was no one available who was adequately quali- 
 fied for just the work needing to be done in Seoul. Mr. Baird 
 and Mr. Miller, who had had charge of the school during the 
 year, were needed, the former in the wide-open work in the 
 north, and the latter in the evangelistic work in Whang Hai 
 Do. For these reasons the school was discontinued, and the 
 Mission asks the Board to sell the property and hold the pro- 
 ■ ceeds as a special fund for the establishment of the institution 
 as soon as it may seem advisable to open it again. I favor this 
 proposal. The old property can not be put to any other wise 
 use in connection with our work, and it is located in a section 
 •of the city where we should not wish to have our school. 
 
 At present, therefore, we have no high school for boys in 
 Korea. I think that before long we should have such a school. 
 'The Christian community is growing fast and will need it for 
 the training of preachers, teachers, and Christian leaders in 
 other callings. There is great need, and will be greater need, 
 for such an institution. There are schools in Seoul, but none 
 of the kind we should want to establish, a school in the vernacu- 
 lar, openly and aggressively Christian, and doing educational 
 work of solid and thorough character. Dr. Jaisohn told me 
 that such a school would be thronged with pupils even without 
 the inducements of English or bread-and-butter subsidies. On 
 the other hand, some of the missionaries say they have not 
 seen any demand for vernacular education. I believe, though, 
 that if we had the right man to organize and inspire our school 
 we could have as many pupils as we wanted, and could largely 
 mould the future of Korea. The opportunity seems to me 
 magnificent. Mr. Adams seemed to me the man best quali- 
 fied of the present force, but it may be better to find some new 
 man with the special gifts, who will begin slowly and humbly, 
 after he is prepared, with a few boys, and who will be all for 
 •quality and solidity, not for quantity and show. The indus- 
 trial ideas some have advocated I do not believe in, and the 
 
26 
 
 problems of a manual element in the school, the place of 
 Chinese in its curriculum, etc., are secondary questions which 
 the right man will be led to settle in due time. Whether Seoul 
 is the proper place for a school designed to train Christian 
 leaders for the country as well as the city, is a hard question. 
 It is a demoralizing place to country boys, and it is a long over- 
 land journey, both from the south and the north, though much • 
 shorter by sea. By the time we are ready to reopen the school^ 
 however, there will be further light upon the question of its 
 location. 
 
 The branch of educational work most needing attention is 
 the instruction of the leaders. The work has grown so that it 
 has been difficult to keep pace with this. Its present momen- 
 tum must not be lost through the loss of freshness of knowl- 
 edge. The new converts and their leaders must be taught and 
 put in the way of unending growth in character and intelli- 
 gence. The Mission has aimed to provide for this, as its rules 
 show: 
 
 ‘‘Section D, Article I. — The Mission shall provide for 
 theological instruction to be given to its various native agents 
 in summer or winter theological classes, and also, when the 
 time arrives, for more systematic and thorough instruction by 
 a theological school. 
 
 “Article II — The winter or summer theological class or 
 classes of the Mission shall be arranged for at the annual meet- 
 ing of the Mission, and shall be placed under the care of a 
 member or members of the Mission. 
 
 “Article III: — The object of these theological classes shall 
 be to fit the various native agents for their work, but more 
 especially to prepare natives to become self-supporting teach- 
 ers of others, without removing them from their various call- 
 ings. 
 
 “Article IV. — The various members of the Mission having 
 charge of sub-stations shall invite the leaders, helpers, and 
 native agents, and others whom they see fit, to attend these 
 classes nearest to their respective sub-stations, and report 
 those who will attend to the leader of the class. 
 
 “Article V. — Except under special circumstances, only 
 those invited by a member of the Mission shall be allowed to 
 attend these classes. 
 
 “Article VI. — The work required of the members of the 
 class shall be such that all idlers or others with any personal 
 motives in view shall find it more agreeable to leave the class. 
 
 “Article VII. — It shall be the rule of the Mission to simply 
 provide for the entertainment of the members of this class 
 
27 
 
 while in attendance upon its duties, and only in exceptional 
 cases shall any portion of the expenses of returning home be 
 paid by the Mission.” 
 
 Progress has been made in the matter of self-support in 
 these classes since this rule was adopted. The Chang Yun 
 church entertained the class held by Dr. Underwood last year,, 
 and it is proposed in Pyeng Yang either to. have the class en- 
 tertained in the houses of the native Christians, or to have it 
 made up of delegates appointed by the groups of Christians 
 who will provide for their expenses in whole or in part. The 
 accounts presented to the Mission meeting by Dr. Underwood 
 and Mr. Lee of the classes held last year are deserving of the 
 careful reading of each member of the Board. They are a 
 revelation of the vitality, the reality, the substantial character 
 of this work. Mr. Baird’s removal to Pyeng Yang, and Mr. 
 Miller’s assignment to a share in the great evangelistic work 
 which Dr. Underwood was carrying alone will enable the Mis- 
 sion to provide for yet more thorough instruction of the leaders 
 and others who come this year ; for the missionaries have found 
 it impossible to confine the classes to the numbers originally 
 planned. Men and women and even children come in, some 
 from long distances, and refuse to be turned away. 
 
 The Mission has conducted annually also a teachers’ in- 
 stitute, analogous to thi‘s normal theological school, only de- 
 signed to fit better for their work the teachers of the primary 
 schools. It is an excellent scheme. Even when a high school 
 of academic grade has been developed, these normal institutes 
 \ held during a favorable season of the year for Bible training 
 and for training in methods and material of teaching will be 
 ' needed for a great and useful class of men too old to enter a 
 high school, and likely to be rather unfitted than better pre- 
 pared by its influence and method. 
 
 The Girls’ Boarding School is now in its comfortable new 
 home, to which it was moved because (i) in its old location it 
 was too near the Methodist school, which came at a later time, 
 and with which it could not compete, (2) in its new location it 
 was believed there would be more room for woman’s work, 
 and (3) the proximity of legations and the new palace has 
 made the old location objectionable. During the last year 
 forty-two were enrolled, eighteen from Christian families, and 
 six from the families of adherents. Theirages ran from eight to 
 seventeen. Work of such sort for girls is now in the stage 
 which it has passed through in China and elsewhere. Parents 
 do not value education for their daughters, and do not care to 
 support their daughters in schools, especially when it costs." 
 
28 
 
 'more than it would at home, and the girl’s labor is lost. Also 
 ■‘there is little opening for educated women. Patience and per- 
 severance are needed. The general judgment of the Mission 
 in the discussion we heard was to the effect that parents should 
 •be expected to give at least a large portion of the rice needed 
 for their daughters, and that in a boarding school the age limit 
 ■of admission should not be too low. The primary work should 
 be done in day-schools. 
 
 The Gospel has proved a great intellectual stimulus to the 
 native Christians. It has awakened them out of torpor. They 
 teach one another to read. They gather in their simple little 
 churches built of mud and rice-thatch just like their own 
 houses, and talk and study, and they want schools. The Mis- 
 sion encourages this desire, but does not wish to frustrate its 
 best results by providing what the people can provide. To 
 meet this point the following rules were adopted at the Mis- 
 sion meeting: 
 
 “Resolved, That in places where there is a sufficient Chris- 
 tian constituency, private schools should be organized and sup- 
 ported by the native Church, and should be under the super- 
 vision of the missionary in charge of the district. That in 
 •exceptional cases assistance may be given by the Mission, but 
 not to exceed more than one-half the expense of the school. 
 
 “Primary schools carried on at the expense of the Mission 
 for evangelistic purposes in districts where there is not yet a 
 sufficiently strong Christian constituency, may be organized, 
 but only after direct Mission permission, or in the interim be- 
 tween Mission meetings by sanction of the Educational Com- 
 mittee 
 
 “We recommend that the age of entrance to the Girls’ 
 'School be- raised from eight years to ten years (foreign count). 
 
 “ In regard to making an advance toward self-support in 
 the Girls’ School, w^e recommend that a strong effort in that 
 direction be m.ade, the method adopted being left to the discre- 
 tion of the one in charge.” 
 
 The section from the Mission rules regarding schools is 
 in its outlines so sensible that I quote it in full:^ 
 
 “Sec. C, Art. I. All the schools of the Mission shall be 
 under an Educational Committee, which shall act as an ad- 
 visory board, with whom the various superintendents of in- 
 dividual schools shall consult, and whose special duty it shall 
 be to see that the general policy of the Mission with reference 
 to school w^ork is upheld ; who shall attend, or, if this is not 
 ^ possible, shall appoint a committee to attend the annual ex- 
 •aminations of the schools, and wffio shall report to the annual 
 
29 
 
 meeting of the Mission, immediately after the reports of the 
 superintendents of various schools have been heard. 
 
 “Art. II. Each school shall be given in charge of a super- 
 intendent or board of superintendents, who shall have the en- 
 tire charge of such school — of course following the general 
 policy laid down by the Mission ; shall advise with the Educa- 
 tional Committee on all new departures, and report annually 
 to the Mission, giving the total expense, total number of pu- 
 pils, number of pupils received, number of old pupils lost or 
 dismissed, number of teachers and the wages paid them, list 
 of classes taught by foreign superintendent, number of 
 Christian pupils, and general moral tone of the school. . 
 
 “Art. III. In every school two primary ideas are to be 
 kept in view: 
 
 “(i) That the fundamental idea of a school is to educate 
 in the various branches of useful knowledge, and thus fit the 
 pupils for the various duties and responsibilities of active life. 
 
 “(2) That the religious and spiritual influence brought to 
 bear on the pupils is the most important thing in the school. 
 
 “Both of these ideas m.ay and should be realized in a 
 good school. 
 
 “Art. IV. Those who have charge of the school should 
 give a fair amount of time to teaching and other personal in-* 
 tercourse with the pupils, so as to gain an influence over them, 
 and to impress their minds and characters. Unexpected visits 
 and stated examinations may serve to keep the Korean teacher 
 up to his work, but they are comparatively ineffectual in moral 
 influence and in power to affect the character of the pupils. 
 
 “Art. V. The board, lodging, etc., shall be perfectly plain, 
 and a special effort shall be made to avoid the fostering of any 
 ideas and the forming of any habits which will unfit the pupils 
 for living as their own people in the same station in life live. 
 
 “Art. VI. All teachers shall, if possible, be Christians, and 
 shall be mentioned by name in the foreign superintendent’s 
 annual report of the school, with the salary paid and the num- 
 ber of hours a week spent in teaching. 
 
 “Art. VII. When pupils are admitted to the school, steps 
 should be taken, by written indenture or otherwise, to secure 
 attendance until the object had in view is accomplished. 
 
 “Art. VIII. As pupils, the children of Christian parents 
 are to be preferred to heathen children, because they are more 
 likely to fulfil their engagements to remain in the school, and 
 more likely to make good and reliable men and women in 
 the end. • 
 
 “Art. ‘IX. Save in exceptional cases, children whose pa- 
 
30 
 
 rents are beggars, or such as send their children to school 
 solely to escape their maintenance, shall not be received as 
 pupils. 
 
 “Art. X. Dull and stupid boys and girls shall not know- 
 ingly be received into a school, nor retained there as a matter 
 of charity to them or their parents. 
 
 “Art XL As a rule, boys should not be received as board- 
 ers under ten years of age (foreign count), nor girls under 
 eight (foreign count), except with the approval of the local 
 members of the Educational Committee. 
 
 “Art. XII. No more shall be done in the way of board, 
 clothing, etc., than is absolutely necessary to secure the end 
 proposed by the school. If possible, clothing, bedding, and na- 
 tive books shall be furnished by parents or guardians of the 
 pupils, and as soon as practicable, parents or guardians who 
 are able to do so, shall be required to pay something for the 
 privilege of the school. 
 
 “Art. XIII. An examination shall conclude each school 
 year, which shall be attended, if possible, by the Educational 
 Committee of the Mission, and a report of the examination 
 rendered to the Mission at its annual meeting. 
 
 “Art. XIV. The course of study of all schools shall be, 
 in the main, uniform, taking for its guide a course to be pre- 
 pared hereafter. All these schools shall aim to prepare stu- 
 dents for an educational institution which shall be located in 
 Seoul.” 
 
 These rules apply in the main to the boarding-schools. 
 The age limits, as applied to pupils in boarding-schools are 
 altogether too low. In rules intended to cover day schools, 
 also, requirements of sufficient missionary supervision cannot 
 be made too strict. Even in Korea we had evidence of the 
 loss incurred by a want of such supervision. If a school can- 
 not be made what it should be, it may not be best always at 
 once to discontinue it, but the presumption is adverse to its 
 continuance. 
 
 III. Medical Work. — I think that there are no features of 
 medical work peculiar to Korea. What has been said in my 
 report on China applies equally to Korea. Medical work is 
 scarcely needed in Korea, however, to incline the people favor- 
 ably toward Christianity. It should have the evangelistic aim 
 even more conspicuously than in China, if that might be. Only 
 a few pointsneed tobe touched upon, (i) Wehavethree hos- 
 pitals in Korea; one in Seoul, the largest, with a capacity _ of 
 thirty in-patients, and an average of fifteen in-patients during 
 the year; one in Pyeng Yang, with a smaller capacity, and' 
 
31 
 
 one in Fusan, which is really only a dispensary, with an operat- 
 ing room, waiting room, and one or two more additional 
 rooms. The medical missionaries last year treated 23,778 out- 
 patients in these hospitals and in the dispensaries under Dr. 
 Vinton and Dr. Whiting, and 383 in-patients. (2) I do not 
 believe we ought to enlarge greatly the medical missionary 
 force in Korea. We have no medical missionary at Gensan, 
 but there are two doctors there. In Pyeng Yang the Meth- 
 odists have a good medical work, and in Seoul there are four 
 other hospitals, two under the Society for the Propagation of 
 the Gospel, and two under the Methodists. It could be hoped 
 that there might be some consolidation among these five in- 
 stitutions, of which ours was first in the field and has ever been 
 the largest and most efficient, but there is no prospect at all of 
 this. (3) Feeling that the field was thus supplied, and desiring 
 to have a more active part in the country evangelistic work, 
 Dr. Whiting asked the Mission to assign her to such work. 
 Some felt that a woman doctor could gain access to a high 
 class of houses and women in Seoul inaccessible to anyone 
 else, but Dr. Whiting regards this opening as exceedingly 
 small, if, indeed, it can be obtained at all save in such excep- 
 tional ways as have come to Mrs. Underwood. (4) The Korea 
 Mission, with the unanimous concurrence of the doctors, has 
 decided upon a policy adverse to indiscriminate gratuitous 
 treatment. At Pyeng Yang, in-patients bring their own bed- 
 ding and pay sixty cents a day for food, while each dispensary 
 patient pays five cents. At Seoul the regular fee for in-pa- 
 tients is twelve cents a day, which is supposed to cover food 
 and fuel. As a matter of fact, the majority do not pay, but 
 are taken on charity. In the dispensary, charges are made in 
 proportion to the value of the medicines. At Fusan there has 
 been special success in increasing receipts, while turning no 
 one away because he cannot pay. (5) There would seem to be 
 some room for sharper application of the Manual rules regard- 
 ing receipts on the field in some cases, and also for more rigid 
 adherence to the instructions of the Manual as to estimates, 
 which require a statement of the total estimated expenses and 
 total estimated receipts, request being made for an appropria- 
 tion equal to the excess of the former over the latter, and all 
 of the latter passing into the treasury of the Board. (6) Dr. 
 Avison has in Seoul a class of seven in the hospital who are 
 studying medicine with him. Two of these support themselves 
 wholly; to twoonly their food is given. All work as assistants 
 in the dispensary and wards. The work is rendered difficult 
 because of the want of all text-books and of all medical and 
 anatomical terms in the native language. 
 
32 
 
 IV. Woman’s Work. — “Ten years ago,” wrote Mrs. Un- 
 derwood, a year ago, “it was thought hardly safe for ladies to 
 enter Korea as missionaries, and seven years ago the writer’s 
 life was threatened on the street and her chair-bearers told 
 they should die if they carried her to the hospital, so that it 
 was necessary to go there on horseback for a day or two.” 
 Now women live and travel anywhere, and the work among 
 the native women has grown and prospered scarcely less than 
 among the men. When Mrs. Gifford left Seoul for her fur- 
 lough last year, the Christians insisted on carrying her chair 
 for her, and all her baggage. They paid her fare from Seoul 
 to Chemulpo. A great crowd, with presents, accompanied her, 
 and as her steamer sailed off they sat on a hill, with banners, 
 singing Christian songs. In Pyeng Yang the work has grown 
 so that the men alone fill the old church, though it has been 
 four or five different times enlarged ; therefore the women are 
 obliged to have a church of their own, which they crowd full, 
 while a blind helper, whose want of sight renders it proper for 
 him to work among them, preaches as true a Gospel as can be 
 heard anywhere in the world. It would be easy to write from 
 my notes many pages illustrative of the way the Gospel has laid 
 hold of the women, transformed some of them, quickened their 
 intellectual life, purged them of vilest sins, made them clean, 
 intelligent, active. It has wonderfully blessed the homes of 
 these women. The Korean woman is somewhat like the Mos- 
 lem woman in her home life. The woman’s quarters are 
 usually separate and she must not be too much seen. The 
 Gospel has meant liberty and love to her. At the close of a long 
 interview with a congregation of women, I asked, “Do your 
 husbands treat you more lovingly since they became Christians?” 
 “According to "Korean custom,” one replied, “men look down 
 on wives and beat them. I see my son who is a Christian, 
 treating his wife with love. I have not experienced it. My 
 husband is not a Christian.” There was a moment of silence 
 then, and another said softly, “My husband is different now. 
 He loves me.” 
 
 Except in Seoul all the work for women thus far has been 
 done by missionary wives. With all of their home cares, learn- 
 ing the language, and the mastery of the practical details of life' 
 in a new mission field, they have still found time and strength 
 for a glorious work. In Seoul there have been unmarried' 
 women for the work also, and there is room for more, especial- 
 ly for teaching the women and for country work. The rein- 
 forcements sent this year should be sufficient to^ meet the more: 
 urgent needs. 
 
33 
 
 A large number of native Christian women are voluntary^, 
 unpaid workers. A woman of means in northern Whang 
 Hai Do has put up a church in her community, and also travels 
 about at her own charges as a woman leader. At least one 
 appropriation for a woman helper has been made, but I think 
 none have been employed, except teachers of schools. “I raise 
 the question,” said one member in mission meeting, “whether 
 this is not a better policy than paying any woman a salary for 
 work. To pay a woman worker might secure larger present 
 numbers, but would not the work be stronger and more lasting 
 if we build it up without money, using that only for expenses 
 of travel, etc., when we take a girl or woman with us for work 
 in the country?” “Yes,” said another, “the woman helper 
 whom I had with me last got her rice, but received no pay.” 
 “Let us use many women,” added Mrs. Baird, “rather than one 
 or a few, in work. This will train a larger number and avoid 
 many troubles.” “Some say,” concluded the first, “that we 
 need paid women helpers as deaconesses, but we have deacon- 
 ess work done in the Chang Dong church by voluntary women 
 helpers.” Such a grov/ing work on such a sound basis is a 
 great comfort. Mrs. Underwood closes the article which sup- 
 plies the quotation at the beginning of this section, with the 
 words: “We are not as eager to see a large number of women 
 entered on our rolls as to be sure that the Gospel in purity 
 and simplicity is being spread far and wide.” 
 
 V. Missionaries. — I have already expressed to the Board 
 the conviction which intimate intercourse with the mission- 
 aries in Persia, China, and Japan was constantly deepening, 
 regarding their character and abilities. I heard Dr. Stalker 
 say once that he had formed the opinion, after careful and 
 wide observation, that the average missionary was a little 
 stronger intellectually and a little better spiritually than the 
 average minister at home. However that may be, the mission- 
 aries are better men and women even than I had before judged 
 them to be ; more sensible, more attractively human and sane, 
 more earnest, more open to improvement, more energetic, 
 more judicious than my ideal of them, which was already high. 
 The missionaries are seen to the best advantage in the midst 
 of their work. What they are seen to be there is the best an- 
 swer to criticisms upon their earnestness, devotion, or judg- 
 ment. 
 
 The Korean missionaries rank high in all of these qualities. 
 The opinion of Mr. Sill, who was LTnited States Minister at the- 
 time of our visit, would be confirmed by all who know them: 
 “The missionaries here are a strong, level-headed, efficient 
 body of men. They are a remarkable lot. I have had great-. 
 
34 
 
 €st pleasure in associating with them. Some people say 
 missionaries are a troublesome lot, but I have never met men 
 more sensible, more easy to get along with. I think highly of 
 them.” 
 
 The relations between the missionaries and the natives is 
 in the main delightful, though some find it difficult to maintain 
 that balance between the spirit of complete confidence and 
 trust and the judgment of scrutiny and care which is as neces- 
 sary as it is hard, for many. It is indispensable both to trust 
 and to inspire trust on one hand, and to avoid self-deception 
 or rash over-confidence on the other. 
 
 The language examinations prescribed by the Mission are 
 very thorough, and the Examination Committee is charged 
 with a wide responsibility, which it is to be feared is allowed to 
 be slighted at times. The Mission rule, however, is as follows: 
 
 ‘‘Article II. — The Examination Committee shall not only 
 examine, but act as an advisory committee along the line of the 
 studies of the new missionaries, and shall arrange for quarterly 
 examinations during the first two years. The Examination 
 Committee shall notify new missionaries, on their arrival, of 
 the course of study and the person to whose oversight they 
 have been assigned. No missionary shall be considered to 
 have passed the final examination (except in the case of mar- 
 ried ladies) until he or she has passed at least two of the an- 
 nual examinations before a majority of the members of the Ex- 
 amination Committee.” 
 
 It is the practice of the Korea Mission to employ language 
 teachers for the married women, rather than to try to have one 
 teacher suffice for a husband and wife. The estimates for the 
 current year asked for twenty-six teachers, for twenty-eight 
 missionaries, including wives, at an estimated expense of yen 
 2,972. It has been felt that husbands and wives would want 
 to be using their teachers in the mornings at the same time ; or 
 even if they did not, that a teacher who had been worked hard 
 all morning would not be a satisfactory teacher, though he 
 might be employed on other work, in the afternoon. As a 
 matter of fact, some of the teachers have been rather secreta- 
 ries, or mission helpers, than genuine language teachers, and 
 should be so entered in the estimates. Not enough re^l lan- 
 guage study is done to employ the time of twenty-six teachers 
 for it. I think it is fair to raise the question whether there 
 might not be some room for economy here, and yet it is not de- 
 sirable to force this unduly, at the expense of thorough mas- 
 tery of the language. 
 
 The sanitary condition of Korean cities is bad, but it is 
 
35 
 
 not worse than that of Chinese cities, if as bad. And the sum- 
 mers in Seoul, which is set in a cup in the hills of yellow gran- 
 ite sand and black rock, are said to be very hot. But in the 
 main, Korea is an exceptionally healthful country, and some 
 of our stations are as good as sanitariums, the missionaries 
 themselves declare. The regular Manual provisions regard- 
 ing term of service and furloughs work no hardship at all in 
 the case of Korea missionaries. 
 
 The cost of living in Korea is unquestionably higher than 
 in China. Wages are higher, and prices of produce as well. 
 The silver dollar in Korea buys only 500 cash, while in China 
 it buys from 800 to 1,000. Somewhat larger salaries seem to 
 be justified. 
 
 Objections to unmarried men missionaries in Korea lie 
 with equal force, so far as these objections refer to misunder- 
 standing and slander, against unmarried women and even 
 against married men. In all cases missionaries have to es- 
 tablish their characters, and live down misconception ; and dif- 
 ficulties on this score ought not to constitute a barrier deny- 
 ing to unmarried men the privilege of missionary work in 
 Korea. For men like Mr. Moffett, Mr. Whittemore, and Mr. 
 Hunt there is a large field. 
 
 One question which emerged in the mission meeting re- 
 ferred to the principles which should control a missionary in 
 the use of private funds. Can such funds be used wholly with- 
 out restraint? I expressed the opinion that such funds should 
 never be used in a way contrary to Mission policy, nor in forms 
 of work not wholly approved by the Mission nor in such a 
 way as to constrain Mission action, or involve Mission respon- 
 sibility without its approval, or the Board’s responsibility 
 without its approval. 
 
 IV* Problems and Dangers* 
 
 I. One of the most interesting features of the Korean 
 Church is its patriotism. Our belated coasting vessel de- 
 posited us in North Korea on a Sunday morning, and along 
 the river Mr. Lee called our attention to villages in which, on 
 bamboo poles, small Korean flags were flying. These flags 
 marked the residences of Christians, or were flying over the 
 churches. It is a practice which has grown up among the 
 Christians without missionary suggestion, to run up the na- 
 tional colors over their homes and churches on Sunday. They 
 do it to proclaim the character of the day, and to mark their 
 own respect for it. Some of the leading Koreans in Seoul 
 have organized an Independence Club and have laid out an 
 Independence Park and built an Independence Arch and es- 
 
36 
 
 tablished an Independence Day, the sixteenth day of the 
 seventh Korean month, in celebration of their independence of 
 China, brought about through the war. These are the ad- 
 vanced and liberal men. The reactionary Confucianists hun- 
 ger for the good old iniquitous days. The leading spirit in 
 the progressive movement was Dr. Jaishon,a native Korean, who 
 is a naturalized American citizen, and a member of Dr. Ham- 
 lin’s church in Washington, an attractive, able, and earnest 
 man. His representative character as a Christian, a leading 
 progressive, the editor of the main vernacular newspaper,which 
 speaks out with unflinching boldness and also publishes an 
 English edition, and as a man who was given official position 
 when the progressive movement was dominant, has great in- 
 fluence in identifying the Christian cause with the. cause of 
 Korean independence and progress. Most of the patriotic 
 demonstrations were made by the Christians while we were 
 in Korea. In Pyeng Yang they had a great picnic on 
 Independence Day. No one else observed the day. On 
 the King’s birthday, which fell on Sunday, they listened 
 to patriotic sermons in churches decorated profusely with 
 national flags. The next day they had in Seoul a great open-air 
 mass-meeting, addressed by Dr. Jaisohn, by the Mayor of 
 Seoul, formerly Minister in Washington, whose wife is a Chris- 
 tian, and by the Assistant Minister of Education, a devout 
 Christian, who was a member of the Korean embassy to the 
 Czar’s coronation, and who was educated in the United States. 
 On the last Sunday we were in Korea, another great mass- 
 meeting was held in a royal building, at which half a dozen 
 spoke, and some of the speeches ran into the same fervent po- 
 litical strain. One spoke on the text which describes the apos- 
 tolic missionaries as men who were turning the world upside 
 down, and pointed out how, in Korea, men had been really 
 standing on their heads in the mud. “The missionaries have 
 come to right things. Society must be turned upside dowm. 
 There is no hope in the upper classes. Christianity begins at 
 the bottom. After all, a man’s a man, be he king, noble, or 
 coolie.” Then a voice in the crowd said “What kind of talk 
 is this?” “Christianity is no Tong hak or rebellious doctrine,” 
 the speaker went on. “It teaches only to worship God, fear 
 no man and do right.” “Whom have we to fear?” asked the 
 next speaker. “Who is there to trust except God? Great 
 men? If you stick a knife into them it will hurt just as it 
 would hurt me. No; trust God only and we shall win. 
 Christ’s kingdom will prevail. Where is Alexander’s empire? 
 Where are Greece and Rome? Gone utterly! And where is 
 Christ? Ruling everywhere. It cannot end otherwise. Right 
 
37 
 
 and God and Jesns will win. There is no reason why we 
 should not expect to see a Christian king on the throne of Ko- 
 rea!” No such free and stirring speech as this had ever been, 
 heard in Korea before. 
 
 The reasons for this fervid patriotism among the Chris- 
 tians are manifold. One is that Christianity has quickened 
 and vivified the minds of the people and given them bold- 
 ness of speech, so that they now see the abuses of the past and 
 the glory of independence, and are able to reason dauntlessly 
 about such things. TVnother is that Christianity is essentially 
 an emancipating religion, and leads inevitably to the desire 
 for free government and pure and popular institutions. Yet 
 another is that the Catholics have always erred in the want of 
 patriotism, and, indeed, in being guilty of downright treason 
 to Korea. Coming out into Protestant enlightenment just, 
 at the time that Korea was being roughly hustled by Japan into* 
 the paths of civilization quite a little against its will ; and them 
 seeing Japan’s grasp failing, and the country standing without 
 true heart or strong mind, the Christians have been roused to 
 speak out boldly for their King, to be sure, but also for right- 
 eous government and just laws. A further reason is to be 
 found in the influence of some leading men who recognize that 
 the one hope of the country lies in the power of Christianity 
 and Christian education. One of these said to me, “The only 
 hope of the country is in the churches. There is no moral' 
 character in Korea. It is being created in the churches. 
 There is no cohesion, or unity, or confidence among men. There 
 is no company of men, however small, capable of acting to- 
 gether. The churches are raising up bands of men who know- 
 how to combine for a common object, who are quickened in- 
 tellectually, and are full of character, courage, and hope. To- 
 convert and educate the common people is the only hope of the 
 land.” Some Korea magistrates hold these same views. 
 
 There is a great deal that is hopeful and encouraging in 
 this, but there is also a danger that Christianity may be po- 
 liticalized, if I may use a barbarous word. As it is, in some 
 places the people think the Christians are partisans of the West 
 and of Western civilization, and are not true Koreans a.ny~ 
 more. When they cut off their absurd top-knots, as many are- 
 doing, and put on foreign clothes, as a few have done, the idea' 
 gains added support. In his last evangelistic report Dr. Un- 
 derwood cites a striking case of confusion of Christianity with: 
 political influence, which illustrates in part this danger: 
 
 “At Keum Chun, an offshoot of this work, a church Has; 
 been purchased and the work progresses well.. At Pyeng; 
 
San, a joint offshoot from Chaing Yung and Pai Chun, a very 
 promising work has commenced. These three places have 
 passed through considerable trial, through the rascality of 
 some four or five men, who, though never reckoned as Chris- 
 tians by the Christians, announced themselves such, and se- 
 curing the assistance of the weak magistrates of Chairyung, 
 Pong San and Pyung San, brought no little discredit upon 
 the cause of Christ. These men went to the magistrates, and 
 •stating that they had been appointed Christian leaders 
 by Mr. Underwood of Seoul, and without civil authority it was 
 impossible to make the Christians do right, they asked and re- 
 ceived from these magistrates official documents, appointing 
 them Christian leaders, and ordering all to whom these pa- 
 pers should be presented to obey them. Whether the magis- 
 trates were intimidated into doing this, or whether a monetary 
 consideration assisted in the procuring of these papers I do not 
 know, but that the documents were given with magisterial 
 seals affixed, I know, for they are now in my study. Armed 
 with these papers, they went through that section, extorting 
 money, ordering arrests, commanding magistrates to decide 
 cases in their favor, and dressed in foreign clothes, with rifles 
 and swords, intimidated the people generally. The prompt ac- 
 tion of the Chang Yun church helped not a little to restore 
 confidence in true Christianity. 
 
 “Deacon An, having been appointed to go down to Pyung 
 San and announce to the people that we had nothing to do 
 with these so-called Christians, who were only brigands, ar- 
 rived at a village just as these men, with much paraphernalia 
 and blasphemy, were on the point of carrying on some of their 
 so-called Christian rites. They had forced the people of the 
 village to prepare a grand feast for them, and had compelled 
 the wealthiest man to give them a large sum of money. Dea- 
 con An, entering the room where the meeting was to be held, 
 found the Bible and some Christian books upon the table, 
 over which a white cloth had been spread. I am told that 
 wherever they went, they pretended great reverence for the 
 Bible and Christian books. Unarmed and alone, as he was, 
 Brother An arose, denounced the leaders as imposters, and de- 
 manded the return of the stolen money. His cause being 
 righteous, his boldness w^on the day. He urged the people not 
 to retaliate, to use only legal means, and w^ent with them to lay 
 the matter before the’ magistrates. It took considerable cor- 
 respondence between the American Legation, the Foreign Of- 
 fice, Home Office, the governor of the province, and the mag- 
 istrates before the matter w^as straightened.” 
 
 The views of the missionaries on this subject are alto- 
 
39 
 
 gether clear and satisfactory. They wish Christianity to be in- 
 troduced and extended as a spiritual movement, and ar6 
 striving, .Jas far as they can, to discourage the political idea. 
 Perhaps I exaggerate the danger ; but there seems to me to be 
 need of the most careful and judicious direction of the native 
 Church, lest it swing loose or be some time misled or misused. 
 Or, if these perils are only imaginary, there is at least need 
 that wrong notions of Christianity do not get foothold among 
 those outside of the Church. Christianity is sure to bear civil 
 and social fruits. These will be sound and valuable in propor- 
 tion as they are the fruits of a spiritual and unworldly Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 II. The present political situation in Korea furnishes 
 added reason for the greatest prudence and caution. The 
 murder of the queen at the instigation of Viscount Miura, the 
 Japanese Minister, in October, 1895, and the consequent flight 
 of the king from his palace, and from the control of the Jap- 
 anese, to the Russian Legation, put Japanese influence in Ko- 
 rea at an end, and turned Korea over to Russia as completely 
 as though Russia had waged the war with China for 
 the possession of the land. Of course Japan had dis- 
 avowed any but the most superior altrustic motives in 
 the war. She was aiming to introduce Korea to civ- 
 ilization, and to become herself the pilot of all Asia into light.. 
 And while she had control of Korea she introduced many ad- 
 mirable reforms, placing Korea under the deepest obligations 
 to her. It was the sincere and honest desire of the Japanese 
 Government to help Korea and purify her. It was done in a 
 bungling way — a v/ay that alienated the Koreans and made 
 the Japanese detested throughout the whole country — but the 
 motive was good, and many of the results were admirable. 
 Then the fatal and wicked blunder of October 8th brought the 
 thing to an end. Since the Japanese left, the country has been 
 dropping back into its old ways. Squeezing, unjust taxation,, 
 offlce buying and selling, have been resumed. Mr. Weber, the 
 Russian Minister, and Mr. McLeavy Brown, the head of the 
 Customs and adviser to the Treasury, stemmed the current ; 
 but Mr. Weber did not feel the call to the mission of reform,, 
 as the Japanese felt it, and he has now been succeeded by Mr. 
 Speyer, who is said to be a man of different mood, with whom 
 Russia will be more and Korea less, and there was danger of 
 the removal, under his pressure, of Mr. Brown. There would 
 seem to be few obstacles now in the way of the descent to 
 Avernus. The Korean king, who is neither a strong nor a 
 good man, will find it easy, and a great host of panderers and 
 leeches will assist his descent. The Russians will prevent too 
 
40 
 
 much injustice, but will not assist any over-progressiveness, 
 and will probably encourage a stationary condition pf things. 
 The general tone of the Government at present is illustrated 
 by this royal edict, contained in the Government Gazette of 
 August 19th: 
 
 “Edict — We have been blessed by Merciful Heaven, and 
 we have been guided by the royal spirits of our illustrious an- 
 cestors in directing State affairs. But when we reflect upon 
 ourselves, we realize that we are not worthy of being trusted 
 with so great a duty as to rule the country of our royal an- 
 ‘Cestors. This thought causes us constant worry and discom- 
 fort. However, through heaven’s bountiful blessing, our 
 •country has been peaceful, and many auspicious omens have 
 manifested themselves since our reign. We, instead of doing 
 •our duty more diligently under the auspicious circumstances, 
 have become negligent in the duties which we owe to the na- 
 tion, resulting in a general confusion and perversion through- 
 out the country. At last a most irreparable calamity has vis- 
 ited the royal family, which event we cannot bear to speak of 
 again. It was solely due to our unpopularity that such a hor- 
 rible event happened. 
 
 “After that event the traitors had their own way in the 
 management of the State affairs. They destroyed the old cus- 
 toms of the country, and abolished the formalities of cere- 
 monies and sacrifices. But, fortunately, we have re-estab- 
 lished some of the ancient customs, and made some recoveries 
 in those matters relating to the welfare of the country. We 
 have cultivated the friendship of a neighboring power, and re- 
 gained our independent rights. In looking over the old his- 
 tory, we find that during the Chu dynasty the country became 
 more prosperous after the reign of Emperors Sung and Kang; 
 during the Han dynasty the country \vas regenerated after the 
 reign of the Emperors Mun and Kyeng. Therefore we in- 
 formed heaven, earth, and the royal spirits of our ancestors, 
 on the 16th day of this month, that we are going to reform our 
 ■country in the sam.e manner as was done during the Chu and 
 Han dynasties. We have changed the name of the current 
 year to the first year of ‘Kwangmu,’ and we have asked the 
 help and guidance of heaven and the ancestral spirits. In or- 
 der to be like our royal ancestors, we hereby issue this new de- 
 cree to show that we are anxious to imitate the deeds of our 
 forefathers. Let this decree be known far and near. 
 
 “(i) We have amply gratified the desires of our officials 
 by paying them sufficient salaries. They must respond to our 
 kindness by being loyal to us and just to the people. They 
 must not take bribes, squeeze public money, or rob helpless 
 
41 
 
 •citizens. From the i6th day of this month, if any official of 
 the Government violates these rules he will not escape lawful 
 punishment. (2) The War Office must grant substantial re- 
 lief to the families of meretorious soldiers who have rendered 
 valuable services during the riots and disturbances in the in- 
 terior. (3) The provincal officials are allowed to report the 
 names of the dutiful sons and pure-minded men in their dis- 
 tricts to the departments, and the departments must give them 
 offices in the. Government. (4) It is the law of generations 
 that murderers must be made to confess their crime, therefore, 
 hereafter all murderers must make confession before being ex- 
 ecuted. (5) To reduce the sentences of those prisoners whose 
 offences are other than conspiracy, robbery, murder and im- 
 morality. (6) To relieve the widows and orphans in the in- 
 terior. (7) To rebuild temples and shrines throughout the 
 country by the local officials. (8) To repair roads and bridges. 
 
 “Alas, while we endeavor to do our best in the accom- 
 plishment of the matters enumerated above, we depend large- 
 ly upon the assistance of our officials. We hereby order every 
 civil and military official in the Government to offer his most 
 hearty cooperation, so that we may deserve the blessings from 
 above, and we will be able to purify the world. Let this be 
 made knov^^n to all.” 
 
 Notwithstanding this, there are some good men in office, 
 and the Korean people are a good people. As a whole, they 
 have fine qualities, and with a liberal and enlightened govern- 
 ment they would develop into a useful and prosperous nation. 
 At present, however,the political conditions are reactionary. A 
 misdirected identification of Christianity with a liberal or 
 progressive political movement, would invite the disfavor and 
 opposition of officials who are now neutral if they are not 
 friendly, while it would incur the displeasure of the “neighbor- 
 ing power,” whose friendship, the King says, he has cultivated, 
 and whom it is unwise for anyone to affront. The reforms 
 Japan inaugurated may be undone. Any political reforms may 
 be. Let us with complete circumspection inaugurate such 
 spiritual reforms as can never be undone. Let us avoid all 
 implication with political movements within or without. Let 
 us give no offense to any. . 
 
 III. A problem which has been much before the Mis- 
 'sion, and has received exhaustive discussion, is the matter of 
 Bible translation. Shortly after the missionaries reached Ko- 
 rea they took up this subject, and at a meeting held in Seoul, 
 February 7th, 1887, a Permanent Executive Bible Committee 
 was appointed, which adopted rules for its guidance, of which 
 the following are the more important: 
 
42 
 
 ‘"Art. II. This committee shall consist of two members 
 from each Protestant Evangelical Mission until such time as 
 six missionary societies shall be represented, when one mem- 
 ber from each society shall constitute the committee. The de- 
 termination of right to membership lies with the committee in 
 behalf of the Protestant Evangelical Missions. 
 
 “Art. VII. (i) The Permanent Executive Bible Commit- 
 tee shall have in charge the translation, revision, publication 
 and conservation of the text of the Holy Scriptures in the 
 foreign tongue. 
 
 “(2) This committee shall have power to select a board of 
 five (5) official translators. Should the exigencies of the work 
 seem to reqiiire it, this Board of Translators may be reduced 
 by the Permanent Executive Bible Committee to not less than 
 three, and increased to not more than seven. The Permanent 
 Executive Bible Committee shall have power to declare and 
 fill vacancies on the Board of Official Translators only at reg- 
 ular meetings. 
 
 “(3) When the Board of Official Translators shall report 
 that any complete book is ready for the press, the Permanent 
 Executive Bible Committee shall publish a tentative edition, 
 and shall circulate it among missionaries and others for three 
 years, with requests for criticisms. 
 
 “Art. VIII. When a manuscript has been duly passed and 
 published, and been before the public for criticism for three 
 years, then this tentative version shall be taken with the criti- 
 cisms received, and returned to the Board of Official Transla- 
 tors for revision. After said revision, the Permanent Execu- 
 tive Bible Committee shall publish it as the authorized version 
 until such time as that committee shall see fit to order a fur- 
 ther revision. Other societies or individuals wishing to use 
 the text of the tentative or authorized version, changing terms 
 to suit their special views, may be so allowed at the discretion 
 of the Permanent Executive Bible Committee. 
 
 “Art. X. All questions arising among the official translat- 
 ors, as well as the passing of a document, shall be determined 
 by a majority vote of that body ; it being understood that in a 
 board of less than five, at least three votes must be cast in 
 order to pass a manuscript. 
 
 “Art. XI. It shall be required of the Board of Official 
 Translators that they report the state of their work at each 
 regular meeting of the Permanent Executive Bible Committee, 
 and whenever called upon by the secretary of that committee. 
 
 •Thus far no “authorized version” of any portion of the Bi- 
 ble, as defined in Article' VIII, has appeared, nor has any 
 “tentative version” even. All that have appeared have been 
 
43 
 
 preliminary and provisional individual versions more or less 
 revised by other members of the translating Board, but not 
 representing in any case their united judgment. The Gospels, 
 Acts, Galatians, and James have been issued in this form. A 
 “tentative version^of the first twenty chapters of Matthew has 
 been completed, but not published. Practically the whole of 
 the New Testament is translated in some form by individuals, 
 but only the above books have been printed. Some wish to 
 rush the work of Bible translation. Others think it will be as 
 safe to go slowly, as the work will all be revised shortly in any 
 event. There are some, in other Missions, perhaps, who could 
 facilitate the progress of the work if they could give it time, 
 and in other regards more might be done. The following 
 actions of the mission meeting look in this direction: 
 
 “A resolution was carried to the effect that this Mission 
 urge the Permanent Executive Bible Committee to request 
 each Mission having members on the Board of Translators, 
 as far as possible to release them from other work, and to ap- 
 point them to give their main time and strength to this work.. . 
 
 ‘‘A motion was passed that we instruct our representatives 
 on the Permanent Executive Bible Committee, to request that 
 committee to urge the Board of Translators to present for 
 printing as rapidly as possible, individual translations of books 
 not yet presented. . . . 
 
 “A resolution was in due course passed that we reiterate 
 the original condition upon which we entered upon the union 
 translation of the Bible, to the effect that members of the Board 
 of Translators should not at the same time also be members 
 upon the Permanent Executive Bible Committee; and that we 
 earnestly request such Missions as have the same representa- 
 tives upon both these bodies, to take such steps as are neces- 
 sary to conform to this condition. 
 
 “Also another resolution recommending to the Permanent 
 Executive Bible Committee that Article II. of its Constitution 
 be amended by adding to it, ‘No member of the Board of Offi- 
 cial Translators shall be eligible to a position on the Perma- 
 nent Executive Bible Committee, and when at any time a mem- 
 ber of the Permanent Executive Bible Committee shall be se- 
 lected as a member of the Board of Official Translators his 
 position on the Executive Committee shall be declared vacant, 
 and the Mission he represents so notified further instructing 
 the secretary to convey copies of the several resolutions passed 
 at this annual meeting respecting Bible translation to the Mis- 
 sions interested, to the Permanent Executive Bible Committee,, 
 and to the Bible Societies. 
 
44 
 
 “Another motion was also passed to th"e effect that we ask 
 ithe Permanent Executive Bible Committee to take Article II. 
 ‘Of its Constitution into consideration with a view to making 
 the basis of right of membership on the committee more ex- 
 plicit 
 
 “A resolution was passed that we instruct our representa- 
 :tives upon the Permanent Executive Bible Committee to en- 
 • deavor to effect a change in the Constitution of that committee 
 'relating to the admission of representatives from other Mission 
 bodies on the field, so altering it as to give the respective so- 
 cieties a representation as nearly as possible proportionate to 
 :their membership.” 
 
 The Bible should be translated into Korean as fast as it is 
 needed, and as it can be well done. There is general agreement 
 that Mr. Ross’s version is not satisfactory. This was made 
 before Korea was opened to Mission work. It has too much 
 ■of the Chinese element in it, and many object to its spelling 
 and printing. The time has come for steady progress toward 
 a satisfactory version. The people are asking for it. But 
 there appears to be in the minds of some a too feverish haste, 
 in justification of which, however, it should be said that they 
 feel that the work has been unnecessarily delayed. At the 
 same time, the Mission force is small, the demands of the active 
 evangelistic work are great, and there have been many changes 
 'Of plan in the work since it was begun. The changes proposed 
 by the Mission would seem likely to accomplish all that can 
 well be done now. 
 
 Most unfortunately, there is a difference of opinion as to 
 the term for God. The history of the similar controversy in 
 China is so sad that I marvel that the Korean missionaries, 
 who have proven themselves so able to profit by the experience 
 of others, are starting out in their own work, in this regard, by 
 sowing such baleful seed. The content of the term used must 
 be supplied by the Christian teachers, in any event, and one 
 term is as good as another, when all must be regenerated and 
 refilled with meaning. Or what disadvantages one term may 
 have as compared with another are as nothing compared with 
 the disadvantages of quarrel and conflict over this question. 
 The vast majority of the missionaries accept one term. One,, 
 two, or three, I believe, hold to another, but they are strong 
 and conscientious. Such a disagreement now prepares for 
 greater disagreement further on. It is not necessary to know 
 the technical merits of the controversy, to be able to form a 
 judgment in such a case. The missionaries ought to agree. 
 If they will not, I should hope that the Boards and Bible So- 
 
45 
 
 ■cieties would do so. That would probably settle the matter, 
 -though there will be confusion for a time. 
 
 IV. Comity. — Our Mission now occupies four stations, 
 Fusan, Gensan, Seoul, and Pyeng Yang. The opening of Ta- 
 goo will make five. Tagoo and Fusan are in the province of 
 Kiung Song, the so.utheastern province. The only other mis- 
 sionaries in that province are the Australian Presbyterians, and 
 we have a territorial division of the field with them, by which 
 the two districts nearest Fusan are regarded as joint territory, 
 and for the rest, they take the land south and wc the region 
 north of the Naktong river. Mr. Baird was the first mission- 
 ary to reside in this province. Gensan is in the extreme 
 northeastern province of Ham Kiung. The Canadian mis- 
 sionaries and the Northern Methodists are also at work there, 
 and no territorial understanding exists. Pyeng Yang was 
 visited by both Methodists and Presbyterian missionaries in 
 earlier years, and has been a common field from the time of its 
 permanent occupation. Our work and force have greatly 
 outgrown the Methodist’s, who have worked, in the main, in 
 one direction, westward and southwestward. As the work grows, 
 it is sure to overlap. The Southern Presbyterians are working 
 in the southwestern province of Chiilla, and the Baptist mis- 
 sion from Dr. Gordon’s church in Boston,in the province north 
 of Chulla, Chung Chong. The remaining provinces are the 
 three central ones: Kang Wen, with no missionaries, and no 
 work in it; Whang Hai, worked from Pyeng Yang and Seoul 
 by our missionaries, and our most fruitful field ; and the capital 
 province Kiung Kei, with our own and the Northern and 
 Southern Methodists in Seoul, and the latter also in Song-do, 
 a large city, two days’ journey to the north. 
 
 The coming of the Southern Methodists led to some diffi- 
 culties in country stations, which were due to native workers 
 in the first instance. These difficulties are regretted, and it is 
 needless to discuss them, save to say they made it clear that a 
 sharp territorial division between the Methodists’ work and 
 ours is desirable. There is plenty of unoccupied territory for 
 them, and they do not desire to encroach upon the fields of 
 others. Dr. Reid, the senior member of the Mission, says they 
 would be willing to stay out of Whang Hai province and to 
 work east of Song-do and north of the Han River and out into 
 the unoccupied eastern province of Kang Wen. It seems to 
 me that this would be a good arrangement, and I said so to our 
 Mission. 
 
 With this understanding made, we should have territorial 
 adjustments with all of the Missions, save the Northern Meth- 
 •odists. I sincerely wish we might have some division of the 
 
46 
 
 field with them. If their work in the Pyeng Yang field were 
 as much stronger than ours, as ours actually is stronger than 
 theirs, I would be in favor of turning that field over to them 
 while we took Ham Kiung. As it is, I believe, it would work 
 out for the best interests of the field if the Methodists would 
 exchange their Pyeng Yang work for our Gensan work, and 
 would remove from the former field while we withdraw from 
 the latter. Their Pyeng Yang church has 28 members and 235 
 probationers. Their Gensan church had four members in 
 May, and 215 probationers. It has been enlarged since. Our 
 Gensan church has as many members nearly as the Methodist 
 Pyeng Yang church, while our Pyeng Yang church* has 377 
 members and 1723 catechumens or probationers. A division 
 of the Kiung Kei province could also be made which would 
 recognize the equities of either Mission. Could we not sug- 
 gest such a division as this to the Methodist Board? 
 
 These territorial partitions are better than rules designed 
 to prevent friction where Missions are occupying the same 
 ground. Still where no division can be secured such rules are 
 necessary. The following were adopted by the Northern 
 Methodist and our Missions in 1893: 
 
 “i. Resolved that we advise that as a general rule the 
 common occupation of smaller cities and the districts around 
 them, is not the most profitable way of utilizing our forces 
 but that open ports and towns having a population of over 
 5,000 should be open for common occupation ; and especially 
 so when they are needful bases for the occupation of the re- 
 gions beyond. 
 
 '' 2 . When a town of less than 5,000 inhabitants has been 
 established as a sub-station by the missionary in charge of the 
 district (a sub-station being understood to be a place where 
 inquirers or Christians regularly assemble for worship on the 
 Lord’s Day, or a place visited not less than four times a year, 
 two visits at least to be made by the foreign missionary in 
 person) it should be considered as occupied, and we deem it 
 inadvisable for another Mission to begin work there ; but the 
 discontinuauce of work for six months shall leave it an open 
 field. 
 
 “3. That societies wishing to begin new work or to ex- 
 tend. be strongly recommended to take into consideration un- 
 occupied territory, so as speedily to cover the whole field. 
 
 ‘‘4. We recognize the inherent rights of every church- 
 member to transfer his membership to another denomination ;■ 
 but persons whose names are on the records of a church as- 
 
 *Its membership has more than doubled since this report was written. 
 
47 
 
 members or candidates, shall not be received by another church 
 without a letter of recommendation from those in chargfe. 
 
 “5. That we mutually respect the acts of discipline of the 
 various churches. 
 
 “6. Helpers, students, teachers and assistants in any de- 
 partment of the work shall not be received in any capacity 
 whatever by another Mission without the written consent of 
 the person to whom they are responsible. 
 
 “7. That, as a general rule, books should be sold and not 
 given, and that we should have uniformity of prices.” 
 
 Bishop Foster, I was told, who was the visiting bishop at 
 that time, however, disapproved of these regulations, not be- 
 lieving in the principles of comity which they expressed, and 
 so the action of the Methodist Mission was nullified. The rules 
 have nevertheless been the practical policy of the Missions 
 since. 
 
 A better plan than these regulations propose or than terri- 
 torial division, is to be found, I believe, in Church union. I 
 wish there could be one Church of Christ in Korea. The 
 Catholics and the missionaries of the Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel, will not have anything to do with the Evan- 
 gelical missionaries, but the latter surely should unite, now, 
 when the elements of the Korean Church are plastic. What 
 are the matters which divide these new bodies of Christians in 
 comparison with their common interests and beliefs? There is 
 one Presbyterian Church at present. The Methodist churches 
 have not united yet. Dr. Reid and others are opposed to un- 
 ion, such as T believe in. Such opposition will probably make 
 it impossible, but I hope to see more of the future than they, 
 and am sure that Jesus Christ is a bond of union stronger than 
 the forces of separation which divide His brethren into alien 
 companies. 
 
 V. It is unnecessary to make any extended statement re- 
 garding the Mission properties in Korea. All the information 
 that was gathered is available for the Board when need for it 
 arises. If the Boys’ School buildings are sold, our original 
 properties in Seoul will be considerably diminished, but we 
 have all we need. All of our properties in Seoul, Fusan, and 
 Gensan are secure, and doubtless the Pyeng Yang properties 
 also are, yet these last are not in an open port. The open port 
 in the north is Chiknampo, and if Russia wished we might pos- 
 sibly be molested in Pyeng Yang. The only piece of property 
 we have there of which the American Legation has official 
 cognizance is the original house of Mr. Moffett’s. Our rights 
 there have really been acknowledged, however,as the Legation 
 recovered payment for damages done to that house by the 
 
48 
 
 Japanese during the war, and from the local magistrate. Thet 
 Korean Governmentand the peoplehave had most friendly feel- 
 ings toward America and Americans, and are not likely of 
 their own accord to obstruct our residence anywhere in the- 
 country. 
 
 The Mission has wisely pursued the policy of laying the 
 responsibility for building churches and places of worship upon 
 the people. Occasionally they have been given a little help, 
 but as a rule the people have provided such places themselves. 
 Both in the Chang Dong church in Seoul, and at Pyeng Yang 
 need is felt for larger church buildings than it is believed the- 
 people can provide. At Pyeng Yang it is proposed to build 
 one that will seat, on the floor, of course, fifteen hundred peo- 
 ple. In these larger enterprises some of the missionaries be- 
 lieve help should be given on a larger scale. It may be that 
 for such large buildings timbers will be needed, which the 
 people could not provide. They would have to be shipped 
 from Manchuria, or from the extreme north. It seems to me, 
 though, that all which the people can provide they should, so 
 that the churches may seem to them their own and not the 
 property of foreigners, even of the missionaries. 
 
 VI. During the past year Dr. Underwood and Dj. Vin- 
 ton have published at no expense to the Mission a weekly pa- 
 per called The Christian News, printed, of course, in Unmun, 
 the written vernacular. This and Dr. Jaisohn’s paper are not 
 the only publications of the sort in Korea. There are sev- 
 eral others. They have a great influence, in quickening 
 thought, in spreading good knowledge, and in showing the 
 people that their own language was good, that Chinese need 
 not be their master, and in speaking directly to the heart of the 
 people. The Korean Government itself ordered 467 copies of 
 The Christian News to be sent, one to each of the 367 magis- 
 tracies throughout the country and ten to each of the ten de- 
 partments of the central government, the King himself receiv- 
 ing his copies. In a number issued while we were in Korea, 
 the picture of the King was published by his permission. The 
 paper has contained the Sunday-school lesson, translation and 
 notes, and a great deal of useful information. Some of the 
 missionaries feel that Dr. Underwood ought to give the time 
 devoted to the paper to Bible translation, but he seems ready 
 to give all the time necessarv to this, and do all his other work 
 besides. While sympathizing with the desire to have the Bi- 
 ble in Korean as soon as it can be well and thoroughly done, 
 and.not believingthatthispapershould absorb all of any man’s 
 time, it still seems to me a very useful work. It is an eight- 
 page paper, one page for contributed articles, one for farming,. 
 
49 
 
 one for arts and sciences, one for editorials, one for condensa- 
 tion of the court gazette, one page and two columns for Sun- 
 day-school lesson, one page and a little more for church and 
 missionary news and a prayer-meeting talk. On the last page 
 are foreign news and advertisements. One advertisement se- 
 cured the sale of fifteen American plows. 
 
 VII. With the new missionaries who have been sent 
 out, and with the return of the old ones, Korea’s stations will 
 be fairly well supplied. There is a possibility of developing a 
 mission too fast, as well as too slowly. It seems .to me that, 
 unless new stations are opened, our medical force is large 
 enough, and that some, at least, of the new medical women 
 who have been sent are needed more in the evangelistic work 
 than in localized medical work. Our experience in Laos and 
 elsewhere, moreover, has shown the unwisdom of locating sta- 
 tions too near together; and if new stations are opened, it 
 seems to me that they should be in districts where it is evidently 
 unsatisfactory to do the work by itineration or occasional visi- 
 tation and residence. Dr. Nevius contended that three sta- 
 tions were sufficient for our work in North China, Peking. 
 Chinanfu and Chefoo. That view has not prevailed. But we 
 are in danger of going to the other extreme, and of so multi- 
 plying stations as to waste Mission force by overlapping 
 spheres of influence. The unconscious influence of the mere 
 presence of a Mission station is powerful, and too near prox- 
 imity of stations is a profligate use of this influence in lands 
 where so much territory is yet unpossessed. 
 
 At the same time God is opening Korea now in a remark- 
 able way. In scores of villages the people want teachers of 
 Christianity. It is easy to exaggerate the spiritual significance 
 of these wants as the people express them, but they mean as 
 much, I believe, as that Paris workingman meant who told 
 Dr. McAll that there were many ready to hear a man who 
 came and spoke to their real needs, and so voiced the call 
 which led to the founding of the McAll Mission. I believe 
 that it is well within the truth to say that the field is as ripe 
 in Northern Korea. We must not let such great opportunities 
 pass by. We could never do it and face the Lord of the Har- 
 vest. If next year more men are needed we should send more, 
 who could, in a measure, relieve some who know the language 
 and are where the needs are less pressing, that they, too, may 
 press into the fields that are white. The present opportuni- 
 ties must be seized by men who can speak. Our new men can help 
 only by relieving such, and by preparing for the oppor- 
 tunities for which we hope several years hence. 
 
 Of much of the country we as yet know little. Only the- 
 
50 
 
 extreme southern end of Ham Kiung has been traversed, and 
 that only in small part. The north of the province is unknown. 
 It should be visited. The Mission proposes to have Mr. Swal- 
 len make a full itinerating tour. I approve of this if it is done 
 thoroughly. A mere coast journey or a short trip will not suf- 
 fice, however. If the Methodists would take this province and 
 leave us Pyeng Yang, each could be better worked. No itin- 
 erating trips have been made as yet to the extreme north 
 of Pyeng Yang, where Mr. Ross reported some years ago 
 many Christians. Pluichon, one of the most important places 
 in the north, is nearer to Pyeng Yang than to Moukden. 
 
 It can scarcely be hoped that dangers and perils are not 
 approaching in this work in Korea. At a gathering of native 
 Christians we asked what they thought the possible dangers to 
 the Church were, and they answered: (i) The jealousy of the 
 Confucianists, as they see the work growing ; (2) the stealing of 
 evil men into the Church; (3) success and corruption. “We 
 shall need persecution,” said Pong. “If a man wants rice, 
 there must be hulling and beating before the fine rice can be 
 got.” “Then the men of little faith will drop out and become 
 persecutors,” added another. (4) The coming of unbelievers 
 from abroad, who will deny the truths of Christianity ; (5) 
 faction and schism in the Church; (6) incoming of Western 
 civilization and the spirit of money-getting. The missionaries 
 have tried to prepare the Christians for these dangers which 
 are before them. The work has been solidly done. Now 
 when the testing comes we can only watch and see how much 
 is chaff and dross, and how much will abide the trying of the 
 fire. 
 
 Let us hope that for many years yet the work may flourish 
 prosperously. It has but just begun. There are only hun- 
 dreds of Christians now where we must pray and work for 
 thousands. The churches are small and unorganized, not 
 ready for any heavy ecclesiastical development. The people 
 are in the. early stages of instruction. There will be need for 
 schools and solid educational work. Let us hope that the 
 same Spirit who has thus far guided the Mission so wisely, 
 may direct the Mission and the Board in their future conduct 
 of their interesting work. 
 
 V. Conclusion. 
 
 This report completes my reports to the Board on the 
 work of the past year. I am grateful to God for the privilege 
 of having visited the Missions in Persia, China, Japan and Ko- 
 rea, and for His loving goodness and care. It has been a great 
 
/ 
 
 51 
 
 blessing to see the work and to mark its solid and enduring 
 character; to meet the native Christians and to be unmistak- 
 ably assured of their genuineness, earnestness and sincerity, 
 and, best of all, I am tempted to say, to associate with the mis- 
 sionaries in such close and intimate friendship, to visit them 
 in their homes, to accompany them on their journeys, to watch 
 them at their work. In these days when they are so often 
 criticized and the spirit of distrust is so prevalent, I wish to 
 bear unhesitating and honest testimony to their fidelity, their 
 devotion, their capacity. They are worthy, I will not say of 
 admiration— for that, they do not care — but of confidence and 
 love. There may be exceptions. Perhaps I have met a few. 
 But I am not sure. I believe in our missionaries with all my 
 heart, and I trust them ; and I believe and trust more fully' now 
 even, at the end of this tour, than at the beginning. And my 
 respect for their character and ability has been deepened, on 
 the whole, by observation of their work,their practical wisdom 
 and their results. 
 
 Many are saying in these days that the mission work needs 
 to be established on new foundations; that it must rest in its 
 presentation to the Churches on new grounds of appeal, and 
 that in the adaptation and offer of the Gospel to the nations,new 
 statements and altered methods are the requirement of the 
 hour. Why? Has a new Gospel supplanted the old? Has hu- 
 man nature altered? Do not the old grounds of appeal still 
 hold, that men everywhere utterly need the Gospel, and that 
 the Savior is the Savior of the world? Are not the old meth- 
 ods of loving persuasion, of Christian nurture, of solid training, 
 the only satisfactory methods still? If we are prepared to 
 abandon our evangelical convictions, or to adopt views of hu- 
 man nature — what it is and what it will do — which our own na- 
 tures belie, we can make radical changes in our grounds of ap- 
 peal and in our methods of work. Not otherwise. 
 
 And yet I believe there is room for improvement. There 
 assuredly is in the matter of committing the home Church tu 
 this its chief work and mission. And in our methods of work 
 on the field there is room for a better balance, a wiser adapta- 
 tion of means to end, a wiser proportion of work. The great 
 difficulty is that the home Church projects itself upon the 
 mission field, with the ideas and methods adjusted to our ad- 
 vanced condition, while the conditions on the mission field are 
 elementary and primitive. Our philanthropic, sociological, 
 educational schemes are good enough for our conditions, per- 
 haps, but what is needed on the mission field is the simplest ad- 
 justment of forces to do the simplest fundamental work. Men 
 and women in primitive grades of society, compared with ours. 
 
52 
 
 are to be met and given entrance to the Christian Cliurch. It 
 must be in a form level "with their needs and uses. It must 
 be their Church, nor our Church, \vhich is established — a 
 Church which can be immediately theirs, not one for which, 
 or for the full enjoyment or administration of which, they 
 need a long social or industrial preparation. To this end edu- 
 cational and philanthropic work should be ruled with clean 
 and sharp aim, and held in just limitation. To deem and do 
 ^s good on the mission field, as part of the mission enterprise, 
 anything and everything which is regarded as good at home, 
 is wasteful, and it is not sensible. We are the preachers of 
 Moses and the prophets, and, most of all, of Christ. We are 
 the founders of His Church, not in the sense of its American 
 institutional development, but in the sense of its primitive spir- 
 itual simplicity. Let us make all our work tell in the accom- 
 plishment of these definite, elementary, spiritual ends. To 
 whoever does this, all other things will be added in God’s 
 time, which is better than man’s prematureness. 
 
 Yet, though the aim be simple — the planting of Christ 
 Himself, not as an idea or an institution, but in His living force 
 of law and love, in Persia, China, Korea and Japan — the work 
 is complex and extensive, or, what is the same thing, it will 
 always appear to be so. But its difficulties will be less and its 
 policies will be clearer, as the aim is kept well defined, as the 
 spirit of strength and purity, of simplicity and life is recognized 
 as fundamental and essential, and as experience develops those 
 practical limitations of project and method which are set by the 
 Spirit of God in things themselves and in the nature of man. 
 
 Robert E. Speer. 
 
 New York City, November 20, 1897.