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51 .K8 B47 1912
eisel, Charles F.
postolic Church as
oduced in Korea

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The Apostolic Church as Reproduced

in Korea

:■:■ ■■'i t/.

•? xj By Rev. Charles F. Bernheisel.

:v: ■■•■^

>►•■ ;; My object in this lecture is to institute a com-
parison between the Apostolic Church and the Ko-
rean Church, the one the earliest and the other
.i probably the latest manifestation of the church of

.''.: :'■''' Jesus Christ upon earth. Both churches are Asiatic,
",■ the Apostolic church having originated in the ex-
' treme western portion of the continent and the Ko-
rean church in the extreme eastern portion. But from

:J- •, the Bosphorus to the Yellow Sea the conditions of

'. ■ " • • life are very similar in their main features and dif-
fer only in detail according to geographical location.
The genus is the same, the species vary.

Korea as a country might very well be compared
to Judea of old. I do not know that the comparison
has ever been made before but it seems to me that
there are several respects in which the comparison
is a very apt one.

First, Geographically. Judea was surroimded
on three sides by three very powerful nations, Syria
on the north, Assyria or Babylonia on the east and
Egypt on the south. And these three nations in
their warfare one with the other often fought their
battles on Judean soil. So Judea was very much of a
. buffer state in its relation to these mighty surround-
ing nations. Now look at Korea. On the east is
that mighty, modern nation of Japan which has
. so recently succeeded in swallowing up Korea; on
the west is China and on the north is Russia. And
it is not necessary for me to stop here to remind
you how these nations have been spilling each
other's blood upon Korean soil. During the Japan-
China war of 1895 the principal field of action was

J in Korea, in and around the city of Pyeng Yang

j , where we live. Again in the recent war between

■ Japan and Russia the opening naval battle was
fought in Chemulpo harbor and the first lard gun
of the war was fired within hearing distance of our
home when the Japanese patrolling the city wall fired
on the Russian scouts who came down from the
north to spy out the country. Several battles were
later fought on Korean soil as the first Japanese
army under Gen. Kurold passed through our city
on his way north until he drove the Russians across

the Yalu, from which time the principal theatre of
action was transferred to the plains of Manchuria.

Second, Physically. The physical similarity o|
Korea and Judea has often been remarked by those
who have seen both countries. Korea has an area
of about 80,000 square miles, of mountain and plain,
mostly mountain. In some places as in Judea there
are extensive plains, well watered and quite pro-
ductive. But the great outstanding feature of both
countries is mountainous, with valleys of greater
or less extent in between the hills where the people
live in villages.

Third, Religiously. The great characteristic of
Judea is her religion. God chose that otherwise
small, insignificant and despised country of Judea to
serve as the medium of communicating His most
holy religion to the world. We cannot think of Judea
apart from our religion. Apart from that we would
know no more today of the Hebrews than we know
of the Philistines, or the Canaanites, or Jebusites or
any other of the many nations that successively
or contemporaneously occupied that land.

x4nd so the one thing above all others that has
brought Korea into the notice of the Christian peo-
ple of the world at least is the wonderful avidity
with which her people have been seizing hold of
that religion which was revealed so long ago in
Palestine and which has in these latter days pene-
trated to that distant portion of the world.

With this much by way of preliminary let us now
proceed to consider the Apostolic Church and try
to see in what manner it is being reproduced in
Korea.

One of the first things that impresses the reader
of the history of the Apostolic church as recorded
in the Acts of the Apostles is the part that prayer
played in the lives of the Christians. Waiting for
the promised Spirit "they all continued in prayer
and supplication." "And when they had prayed the
place was shaken where they were gathered to-
gether." "Peter was therefore kept in prison; but
prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto
God for him." The Lord honored their prayers and
Peter was delivered. "At midnight Paul and Silas
prayed, and suddenly there was a great earthquake
and the prison doors were opened." When Dorcas
died Peter kneeled down and prayed and she opened
her eyes and sat up.

The early Christians knew the secret of prayer; \
its power to soothe their troubled spirits; its

power to secure God's special interposition in
their behalf m opening prison doors, in healing the
sick and recovering loved ones from the dead

The Korean Christians are praying Christians,
i^rom the very first they seem to understand how to
pra5^ I thmk it is accounted for by reason of the
tact that they have always been used to the forms
ot prayer m addressing petitions to their heathen
divinities. Prayer is an accompaniment of their
sacrificial rites. Being thus already acquainted with
the forms of prayer they very soon learn how to ad-
dress the Supreme Being. Any Korean convert will
therefore m a surprisingly short time participate
in public prayer in the church. In my ten years' ex-
perience I have never kno^vn anyone to refuse to
otter prayer when called upon and remember only
one man who, rising voluntarilv to offer praver
stumbled, hesitated and was in evident confusion!
But not only do they know the forms of prayer
which after all is of minor consequence, but they
know Its power and give it a very important place
m their ives. The family altar is set up in a multi-
tude of homes. Where the members of the family
are all Christian this is easy but when some of the
tamily are still heathen, as is often the case, then
private devotions in the home become a difficult
matter because of the lack of privacy in the oriental
home. The whole family often lives in one or two
httle rooms eight by eight. Here they eat, sleep
and live. There is no closet to which to retire to
offer up m secret one's prayers to a God who seeth
in secret and rewardeth openly. It seems to me that
God must reward more openly and fully those who
m such circumstances kneel before their God in the
presence of jeering and unbelieving relatives. One
woman presented herself before a missionary for
baptism and was asked how often she prayed. "Alas
I have no good place in which to pray." was the re-
ply. "There is only one living and sleeping room
for the whole family." But the Korean deacon
was not a bit at a loss. "What! don't you know
about Jonah?" asked he. "He prayed in the whale's
belly \ ou surely have a better place than that in
which to pray."

In one of the Bible conferences the last hour was
to be a study on prayer. Thp preceding hour was
devoted to a study on Philippians and at its close
the missionary asked one of the members to lead in
prayen One of them responded as onlv a Spirit-
hlled Korean can. The whole class was so moved that

over an hour was spent in earnest, heart-searching
prayer, every member of the class taking part. At
its close someone remarked, "One hour for the^study
of prayer has gone but it is better to learn how to
pray by praying than by studying about it."

A few years ago the Christians at Syen Chun,
under the leadership of the missionaries living there
decided to build a large new church. The critical
time in such a building, as far as the weather is
concerned, is while putting on the tile roof. The
tile are laid in a thick layer of dirt on top of a
cornstalk network immediately over the rafters.
Should rain come after the dirt is spread and before
the tile are on serious consequences are likely to
follow. In this case the roof had to be put on in
the summer during the rainy season. On the morn-
ing of the last day one heathen villager met his
neighbor and remarked "Looks like rain today."
"Not a possibility of it," was the reply." "How so?"
was the query. "See that church? These Christians
are all prajdng that it may not rain till the tile are
all on that roof. No rain today." The Christians
all turned out and helped and by two o'clock in the
afternoon the last tile was in place. Fifteen minutes
later the rain fell in torrents and continued for
twenty-four hours. "Chance, luck, an accident,"
say some. But the Korean Christians Avho met under
that roof to return thanks to a prayer-hearing and
prayer-answering God did not ascribe it to a "fortui-
tous concourse of circumstances" or any such thing,
but to a direct, overruling Providence in answer to
prayer.

Last year Mr. Kil, the Korean pastor of the great
Central Church in Pyeng Yang, having felt for some
time that a kind of coldness had come over the
Christians in the city, resolved with one of his
elders to go to the church every morning at dawn
to pray. They thus continued for about two months.
At length it became known to a few and a score or
more joined them. Then, seeing that there was a
desire on the part of others to join them, Mr. Kil
announced from the pulpit Sabbath morning that
if any one desired to join them they might do so
and that the bell would be rung at four-thirty in the
morning. The next morning at one o'clock the
people began to assemble. By two o'clock several
hundred were present. When the bell rang at four-
thirty there were five hundred present and this
number increased to seven hundred in a few days.
On the fourth morning while praying suddenly the

whole congregation broke into weeping for their
sins of neglect, coldness and lack of love and energy.
Then came the joy of forgiveness and a strong de-
sire to be shown ways and means to work for the
Lord.

I had been away on an itinerating trip to the
country for a month and so did not know of these
meetings. The morning after my arrival home I
was suddenly wakened out of a sound sleep by the
ringing of the church bell. I bolted from bed and
rushed to the windoAv to see where the fire was.
There was a fire all right, not the kind caused by the
combustion of carbon and not therefore visible to
my eye but the kind that bums in the human
breast and is caused by the contact of the human
spirit with God's.

Our prayers are often unavailing because we do
not do our part to make them effectual. The Koreans
have learned that the answers to their prayers often
depend on their o^vn efforts. After the participants
in the prayer meeting just mentioned had spent
some time in prayer they realized that the thing to
do now to effectuate their prayers for the conver-
sion of the unbelievers was to go out and with the
divine help reach forth their owti arms to save.
So Pastor Kil asked how many would go out and
give a whole day to preaching to the unbelievers and
try to lead them to Christ. All hands went up.
Then he asked how many would go two days. Again
nearly all hands went up. And so for three, four,
five, six, ai^d seven days and there were a number
who promised a full week of such service. In all
over 3,000 days of such voluntary preaching were
promised in that one meeting, equivalent to nine
years' work by one man.

Of course the greatest event in the Apostolic
church was PENTECOST. The disciples who were
weak in faith and works consequent on the blasting
of their hopes by the death of the Master were now
vitalized and purified and filled with zeal and power.

The Korean church has had her Pentecost. It
came in January, 1907, and lasted in great power j
for full six months until it had swept from one end
of the country to the other, purging the church of
its impurity, creating in the Christians such a sense
of the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the greatness
of God's forgiveness and sanctifying power as they
had never known before. It began in the city
of Pyeng Yang when seven hundred country men
were assembled there for a Bible Conference. The
5

Holy Spirit fell upon the congregation in power,
and for two nights the meetings continued till two
o'clock in the morning. The Judgment books seemed
to be open and men by the score and hundreds
poured out in public confession not only the sins
committed since conversion but those committed be-
fore conversion as well. These confessions were often
accompanied by the most terrible physical convulsions
and agonized cryings to God for forgiveness. Men
who had cherished hatred one for the other publicly
confessed and asking each other's forgiveness would
be seen locked in each other's arms in complete re-
conciliation. The whole audience would burst out
into prayer, hundreds praying at once. The Spirit's
work thus commenced to spread to other classes for
Bible study, to the students in the primary schools,
academy and college; to the Methodist churches
and then to other parts of the country, until as
above stated the whole country was involved in
the movement. Regular class room work in the
schools had to be suspended for a while and the
whole time given up to the revival. Servants in
missionary homes confessed to pilfering and re-
stored what had been wrongfully taken.

When a young student, who himself had gone
through the revival at Pyeng Yang, ^asited the
native church at the American Gold Mining Con-
cession in northern Korea, his message greatly
stirred the members. Among these was a young
Korean employed in the assay office and regarded
as the most trusty native in the employment of the
company. Previous to his conversion he had at
various times stolen small quantities of gold till
he had accumulated quite a sum. The Spirit of
God now took hold of him and convicted him of his
sin and he determined to make a full confession
and return the gold. Accordingly one day he sought
the mining officials and placing the gold before them
told of his crime and said that while it meant his
dismissal, punishment and disgrace he must at least
get right with God and them. This act produced a
profound effect on his employers. The assistant man-
ager took him by the hand and commending the
moral courage of the act told him they would for-
give the crime and would not discharge him. The
young man has since proved himself worthy the
increased confidence which his employers were glad
to bestow upon him.

The effect of the Pentecost was felt not only in
the church itself in a great spiritual uplift but with-

out the church as well. The Christians at Jerusalem
who were filled with the Spirit were maligned ns
being drunk with new -wine. So many of the heathen
Koreans reviled the Christians with many choice
epithets and considered them crazy and drunk. Many
others crowded the churches to see what all this
madness was about. Many who came to jeer re-
mained to pray and even to confess their own
sins. ^ The year following the revival the number of
baptisms for Pyeng Yang increased more than 100
per cent over the previous year while the increase
for the whole Mission was 63 per cent.

Closely connected with and indeed vitally linked
up with the prayer life of the Apostolic church was
that other great gift of MIRACLE. Peter and Paul
and perhaps other of the disciples exercised this
superhuman power. The gift of miracle is generally
considered to have been a special power bestowed
upon the early church for evidential purposes and
to have ceased with the death of the Apostles. In
common with the generality of Christians I, too,
used to hold this view but certain experiences on
the Mission field caused me to reexamine the Bib-
lical teachings on this subject with the view of har-
monizing what I saw and heard with what I hsid
been taught to believe. Was the gift of miracle as
promised by Christ confined to a few individuals and
to a certain limited time, or was it a general power
to be exercised at any time and by anyone who
obeyed the conditions thereof?- What saith the
Scriptures? "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard
seed ye shall say to this mountain be ye removed
and cast into the sea and it shall be done." When
Peter attempted to walk on the water he succeeded
at first but grew frightened, lost his faith and
began to sink. Jesus rebuked him saying, "O thou
of little faith, wherefore did'st thou doubt?" "And
whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that ^.viYi I do,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son." "If
ye shall ask anything in mj^ name I will do it."
"Greater things than these shall thou do." What!
greater miracles than Christ's miracles? Greater
simply because it was a greater thing for a weak
sinful human being to heal the sick and raise the
dead than for Jesus the divine Son of God to do
them. It was a natural thing for him; it was a
supernatural thing for man. Once the disciples could
not cast out a demon and they asked Christ the
reason for their failure. "This kind," said he,
"cometh out only by prayer and fasting." And
7

finally in the last chapter of Mark we have these
significant words, "These signs shall follow them
that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils;
— they shall lay their hands on the sick and they
shall recover."

In these and similar passages is the Scriptural
authority for miracles. The only limitation attached
to these promises that I can see is the limitation of
faith. "According to your faith be it unto you."
And therefore I believe that wherever in this wide
world there is an asking in faith, i. e., believing
prayer such as existed in the Apostolic church,
there will be a repetition of Apostolic miracle.
God's arm is not shortened that it cannot save. He
is the same omnipotent God today that He was
nineteen centuries ago, and the absence of miracle
in the church today is only the shame of the church.

Now it is with a good deal of hesitation that I
say what I am going to say because of the skepti-
cism with which I fear it will be received, a skepti-
cism that I myself shared ten years ago. Are these
miracles being enacted in the Korean church today?
I answer unhesitatingly. Yes.

In the Fourth Church of Pyeng Yang, of which I
have been pastor, is a devout, godly, praying old
woman. She has a granddaughter who had a para-
lyzed foot so that the child could scarcely walk. The
grandmother was much concerned about it and in
the simplicity of her faith began praying the Lord
to heal the child. She continued her prayers in the
most persistent and believing way, often remaining
in prayer till the early hours of the morning. As
her prayer was not answered she began to search
her heart to see if there was anything in her life that
might hinder her prayer. She discovered an un-
confessed sin and made confession of it. Again
she continued most of the night in prayer and in
the morning when the child awoke she called out
in the most exultant way, "See, grandmother, I can
walk," and she proved it by walking. The crippled
condition of the child previously is well attested.
The present sound condition of the child is certain.

Many, many cases of demon-possessed persons be-
ing cured by the prayers of the Christians are on
record. No sincere Christian, so far as I know, dis-
putes the fact of demon-possession in the time of
Christ as recorded in the New Testament. We accept
the fact as unquestioned. Why then should we
deny present-day demon-possession? To call it
8

insanity, or even to acknowledge as I am willing to
do, that it is a form of insanity, is no disproof of
the fact. The insanity or mental derangement in
this case is simply the result of demon-possession.
The Koreans, themselves, distinguish between the
two. They speak of the "mitchin saram" or insane
person and the "makwi teullin saram," or demon-
possessed person.

That demon-possessed persons can be cured by the
prayers of the Christians is acknowledged even by the
heathen Koreans who often bring their possessed
ones to the Christians to be cured, and their re-
covery by this means has many times led people to
decide to become Christians.

All the characteristics of demon-possession as re-
corded in the New Testament, such as the demon
talking through the mouth of the possessed one,
the physical accompaniments of foaming at the
mouth, the fierce, staring, fixed look of the eyes,
rigidity of the body and being thrown down are all
present in Korea.

The method of cure is unique. The Christians call
for volunteers and then they divide themselves into
bands which may consist of one or two or more
persons and then these bands take turns staying with
the patient so that at no time day or night till re-
covery is complete is the patient left alone. Each
band spends its watch in prayer for the afflicted
one, in singing Christian songs, in reading the
Scriptures and having the patient repeat Scripture
verses and in exhorting the demon to leave. Some-
times this is kept up for as long as several days.
Conversation is had with the demon who speaks
through the lips of the patient just as in the in-
stances recorded in the New Testament. This con-
tinuous cannonade of praj^er, Scripture reading, song,
testimony and exhortation finally prevails and the
demon promises to leave, sometimes giving the very
hour on which he will take his departure.

The last case to come under my own observation
was last winter in the Fourth Presbyterian Church
of Pyeng Yang, of which I have pastoral charge.
While a Bible Study class was being held in the
chapel connected with our church a demoniac woman
made her way into the building and greatly disturbed
the service. After the meeting some fourteen of
the most earnest of our women took the afflicted
one to the home of one of them and commenced the
usual routine as above outlined. The demon raved
and railed at the woman but after several hours

told them that if he were given something to eat
he would depart. The woman was fed. He then
set an hour for his departure and when the time
came announced that he was going. The woman
was left in a very weak condition but from that
moment began to recover and though for several
days she was in a rather dazed condition her re-
covery was complete. She attended church and
prayer meeting regularly and in a short time was
utterly transformed. She took on flesh, her face
and intellect brightened up and she has been a happy,
consistent Christian woman ever since. The members
of her family were so deeply impressed by the
transformation wrought in her that they all decided
to become Christians and have kept their promise
to this day.

Now some may call that a case of pure insanity.
Well, even so, the insanity was cured by prayer and
the miracle remains, and that is my chief point of
contention.

Some years ago in a little village across the river
from Pyeng Yang a bright, attractive young fellow
decided to become a Christian, but was much opposed
in his determination and persecuted by his mother.
Soon the young man began to act queerly and give
evidence of demon-possession. He would throw him-
self on the ground, foam at the mouth and cry out
in true demoniac fashion. Greatly alarmed for her
son's welfare and hearing that Christians could
cure demoniacs the mother sent into the city and
invited some of the leading Christian women to come
and heal her son, promising to become a Christian
and cease persecuting him if only they would re-
cover him. She confessed that no doubt this trouble
had come upon her in punishment of her sin in op-
posing the boy's desire to lead a Christian life. The
woman commenced operations and while the boy
was in a raving fit old Mrs. Sin, herself a converted
sorceress, since gone to her heavenly reward but
then a mighty woman of God, drew near to exhort
him to put his trust in the Lord when she was as-
tounded to have the young man whisper back to her,
"Don't worry about me, I'm all right. I am just
trying to bring mother around." It is needless to
say that the exorcism ceased at that point. The
young man's recovery also was permanent. It would
be interesting if it could be recorded that the old
lady mother kept her promise to believe, but, alas!
the fact that she did not only shows that the Prince
of Darkness is still abroad in the world.
10

That is one instance in Tvhich there is room for
legitimate doubt that the patient was actually a
demoniac. But even here there is testimony to
belief by the Koreans in the fact of demon-posses-
sion. Had the young man not believed in demon-
possession as an actuality he would not have imitated
it. Shams are never imitated, realities are.

Another characteristic of the Apostolic church
was TESTIMONY. Just before His ascension Jesus
said to his disciples, "Ye are witnesses of these
things." And again, "Ye shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria
and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." "And
at that time there was a great persecution against
the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were
all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea
and Samaria." "Therefore they that were scattered
abroad went everjnvhere preaching the word." The
reason for the rapid extension of the Gospel through
Judea, Samaria, Asia Minor, Europe and elsewhere
was that every individual who had come under the
Pentecostal power of the Gospel felt it to be a
personal privilege and responsibility to make known
the Gospel to others. The opportunity to do so
came with their flight from Jerusalem to all points
of the compass consequent on a great persecution.

The beginning of the widespread dissemination
of the Gospel seed through northern Korea was the
result of the flight of the Christians from the city
of Pyeng Yang at the outbreak of the Japan-China
war in 1895 when the armies of the two contending
parties met in hostile combat in that city. For sev-
eral years previously the Gospel had been making
headway and there was quite a body of Christians
gathered together when the outbreak of the war
and the siege of the city caused the population to
fly. Wlierever the Christians went they ceased not
to preach the Gospel. All over those northern prov-
inces are churches today that date their beginning
from that time, the seed having been sown by the war
refugees.

From the very beginning of the work in Korea
every effort was made to impress upon the converts
their responsibility for imparting to others the
knowledge and blessings of the Gospel that they
themselves had received. Acts 8 :1 tells us that
"they were all scattered abroad except the Apos-
tles." This shows conclusively that the large part
of the early evangelization of Palestine was done
not so much by the Apostles, or the clergy, if you
11

please, as by the ordinary Christians or laymen.
Paul abode in the city of Ephesus for two years and
it is recorded that "all who dwelt in Asia heard the
word of the Lord." It is estimated that the popula-
tion of the province of Asia at that time was
twenty millions. It is impossible to believe that
they all heard the Gospel from the one man, Paul.
He directed the work and the Christian converts
made known the Gospel wherever they went through-
out the country. The idea that seems to have gone
abroad that the clergy and so-called Christian
workers should have a private monopoly on preach-
ing the Gospel with no interference from outsiders
has been, I believe, the most vicious cause of the
delay in bringing this world to Christ.

In this respect the Korean church is following the
example of the Apostolic church. Each ordained
missionary has from twenty-five to seventy-five
groups of Christians to look after besides teaching
and other work, so that the pioneer work of evange-
lization cannot be and has not been done by them.
Until three years ago there were no ordained native
pastors so the work has not been done by ordained
natives. The work of bringing in the several hundred
thousand adherents of the church in Korea has been
done almost in toto by the Korean converts them-
selves in hand-to-hand work, one at a time, as they
have told the Gospel story in their homes, in the
homes of their friends, in the public inns, in the
markets, by the roadside and elsewhere. The per-
sistence with Avhich the Christians keep at this
work has even led some of the heathen to move
from their village which had become largely Chris-
tian because they were not able to withstand the
"persecution" as they called it of being constantly
urged to believe. Verily, their sins are being visited
on their heads.

Aside from the everyday witnessing that every
convert is expected to do there has originated within
a few years a unique system that has spread through
all the churches and that has been a tremendous
factor in the advance movement of the last few
years. It is the system of pledging of days of
preaching or personal work for the unconverted in
which the Christians pledge themselves to give up
their ordinary vocation for a definite time and go
at their own expense to preach the Gospel to the
heathen. The time thus pledged by various ones
ranges from one day to several months. An oppor-
tunity for such pledges is given publicly in every
12

church and in every class held for Bible study.
Sometimes the niunber of days pledged in any one
place will run into the thousands, and there is no
estimate of what it would amount to for the whole
country. Frequently our pastors and paid workers
who have not been able to get away from their
fields for a share in this work have contributed a
large share of their monthly salary to send out a
substitute. An old lady of my congregation who
herself is unable to go to the country recently paid
the salary and traveling expenses of a substitute to
go to the country for a month to preach. A band
of eighteen school boys in Songdo set out daily to do
personal work in the city after four o'clock till
supper time. A plan for the systematic visitation of
every house in the city once every ten days or so
was carried out. Hundreds of converts were made.
The same plan had already been worked for several
years in Pyeng Yang and has always resulted in
large additions to the churches. But this plan seems
to have originated with Peter and John, for in Acts
5 :42 we read "And daily in the temple, and in every
house thev ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
Christ."

The Apostolic church was a generous church along
the lines of BENEVOLENCE. That first over-zeal-
ous and somewhat impracticable venture of selling
all that they possessed and laying it at the Apostles'
feet, having all things in common, was of short dura-
tion and nothing is heard of it beyond the fourth
chapter. The church soon settled doA\Ti into quiet,
steady and systematic benevolence. They some-
times seem to have been in need of some exhortation
by the great Apostle but there is no record that they
ever failed to come up to what was asked of or
expected from them. When writing the Book of
Acts Dr. Luke neglected to insert the financial
statistics so that it is impossible to institute a com-
pa,rison along benevolent lines between the Apostolic
and Korean or any other church.

That the Korean church is a generous church is
conceded by all. The churches under the care of
our own Missions last year contributed for all pur-
poses $81,309.17. That may not seem so large
till it is remembered that the scale of living in the
Orient is very far below our standard. The ordinarj'^
day laborer receives twenty cents a day, while skilled
laborers such as carpenters and masons get no more
than fifty cents.

From the very first great insistence was laid on
13

the duty of the Korean church by the missionaries
to pay its own bills. Great liberality and solidity of
Christian character have grown out of their efforts
to meet the financial responsibilities placed on them.
Out of 840 church buildings in the work of our
Mission alone not more than twenty are known to
have received any foreign funds for their erection.
a few of the large buildings in the Mission stations
having received aid to the extent of not more than
one-third of their cost. Of 589 primary school
buildings practically all have been provided by Ko-
rean funds. Of 1,052 native workers on salary 94
per cent are supported by the Koreans. The whole ex-
pense of supporting the missionary operations of the
native church in Quelpart and Siberia comes from
the Koreans. The church has laid it down as a
rule that no church shall call a pastor till it is able
to pay the pastor's salary, other provision being
made for the weaker groups. The stories of self-
sacrifice which might be told in connection with this
phase of the work would fill a volume. Tithing is
common, many give as much as a third of their
income.

Two years ago the Christians in the city of Pyeng
Yang undertook to erect a primary school building
to gather together in one place the schools which
were meeting in various places. The churches had
been canvassed and most of the money subscribed,
but an enlargement of the proposed building being
found necessary, more funds had to be raised. Many
efforts were put forth but the money was not in
sight and deep gloom settled down upon all. In
the meeting of the school board called to devise
ways and means one of the elders rose and produced
five yen ($2,50) w^hich he said had been handed to
him the day before by a poor water carrier who by
putting aside out of his meager earnings a few "cash"
a day had after the lapse of several months saved
up this amount which he now gave as his contribu-
tion to the new school building. "Now," said the
elder, "I thought I had given all I could but the
great sacrifice represented by this gift puts me to
shame and I will double my former subscription."
Other men arose and did likewise and in a few
minutes most of the money needed was pledged by
those present. One of the missionaries just returned
from a countrj- trip told of a place where he was
exceedingly anxious to have the Christians raise
money for the salary of a helper for that district.
But they were very poor and there seemed no way
14

till at length they were asked how many would give
the receipts of one day's work to the Lord. So one
and another promised; the shoemaker would make
shoes one day for the Lord: the carpenter would
cut and saw; the laborer would carry his load and
so on, when lo! the money was all raised for a helper
for the year. When we remember how so many of
them live from hand to mouth such giving means
taking it out of their food and fuel.

The same missionary tells another incident. During
the conflict of the Japanese soldiers with insur-
gents a county seat was burned and some time after
the people came back and commenced to rebuild.
Everywhere sites were preempted for i=;tores and
dwellings. A godly old deacon from a country'
church came into the market one day and as he was
looking over the site suddenly the thought flashed
into his mind, where is God's house? Here was every
sort of building represented but no house of God.
The Christians formerly residents there had been
scattered and the remnant was too poor to build a
church. Old deacon Pai went home and spent the
night in prayer. In the morning his orders came.
Said he, "I will never rest till there is a house of
God in the Magistracy." He talked the matter over
with his own group and then with the members of
two or three near-by groups but received no en-
couragement because of the losses they themselves
had received from the recent disorders. The old
man prayed it over again, came back and told the
people. "God has told me to build that church and
I am going to do it if I have to do it alone. I'll
sell my ox, I'll sell my house and fields, but I'll
build that church before I die." His enthusiasm
spread. Money and days of labor were promised
and in two months time the church was completed
and the missionary sent for to dedicate it.

In conclusion I would say that the Korean church
is like the Apostolic church in that it is reaching
all classes of men. Among the converts of the
Apostle Paul was not only the slave Onesimus but
members of Caesar's household as well, and persons
of all intermediate ranks. The majority of the
Korean converts are from the great middle class, but
there are also representatives from both extremes,
the poor slave on the one hand and members of the
royal family on the other.

Many of the far-reaching social changes that have
recently been transforming the country are directly
traceable to the influence of Christianity and the
15

example of Christian institutions. A new literature
has been created; the native script which was for-
merly despised by all Korean scholars, has been lifted
by the missionaries into the place of dignity and
usefulness that it ought to occupy, and several native
newspapers are now published in that script, a thing
unheard of a few years ago. The raising of the age
of marriage and the gradual abolition of concubinage
are taking place; torture has been eliminated from
the criminal code and modern, sanitary prisons
erected. Factional animosities have disappeared and
the grip of the degraded and degrading super-
stitions and religious cults that held the people in
chains of darkness has been loosened.

The task is as yet only begun. As yi'it only one
in fifty of the population is even nominally Chris-
tian but the influence of the church is out of all
proportion to its membership and the success of the
Christian propaganda constitutes one of the marvels
of modern missions.

Korean Christians— baptize'd adults 36,074

Catechumens 25,948

Gifts, last year, from Koreans (gold) . .$81,309.17
Number of unpaid workers, men and wo-
men—deacons, elders, S. S. teachers, evan-
gelists 6,308

Communicants received:la!S-t'^cyeaT 6,823

Catechumens received last yeaT 14,757

Number studying the Bible in classes from

4 to 30 days 40,000

Schools of higher grades — academy to college 18

Primary schools 514

Pupils 9,835

Hospitals and dispensaries 9

Patients treated, 1910-11 68,858

16

Date Due

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