From this point we crossed the town to the imposing group of buildings of the Methodist Episcopal Mission, which are in American style. The fine large church has a belfry, which can be seen as well as heard from afar. We entered at the back of the women’s side, divided from the men’s by a screen, and found it well filled. One of the missionaries told us that it had the largest “floor space” of any church in Korea. As we entered four young men mounted the platform and sang an anthem, but none of our party could decide whether it was in Korean or English. Then the sermon began, and we slipped out to continue our pilgrimage. The greatest harmony exists between the different missions, and the preacher for the day belonged to the Presbyterians. The main difference between the missions is one of policy. The Presbyterians encourage the Koreans to rely upon their own efforts for support, to build their own churches in native style, and to undertake the work of evangelisation at their own expense. The offerings of the Korean church (that is of all the missions) is said to be already £25,000 per annum, and the number of converts 200,000; not a bad result to show for only twenty-five years of missionary work. (These figures are drawn from the report for the World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh.) The American Episcopal Mission do not expect as much from the native church as do the Presbyterians, and they keep the pastorate and general control to a greater extent in their own hands. They have larger funds at their disposal, and do not require the village communities to build their own churches, whereas the Presbyterians only help them with a loan, which is repaid in two years. Even the primary schools are entirely supported by the Koreans. The Methodist Episcopal Mission has initiated work among the blind, and it has a promising school of blind girls, who are already preparing text-books in Braille with a view to the opening of other schools for the blind. The Presbyterians have also started a class for blind boys, but it is more difficult to know what to teach them as a means of livelihood than it is in the case of girls. They have begun to prepare a New Testament in Braille type, but it will require a great deal of revision; the British and Foreign Bible Society has promised to print it as soon as it is ready, at cost price. The lot of the blind in Korea is a sad one; their sole means of earning a living is by practising sorcery.
In conclusion, I must add a word as to the character of the native Christians in Pyöng Yang, but which is equally applicable to the rest of the Korean Church. It is not only remarkable to see the number of Christians, but still more so to see their character. One of the ablest speakers at the Edinburgh Conference was the Hon. T. H. Yun of Songdo, Minister of Education, and leader of the native church, a man of culture and refinement, of whom any country might well be proud. He spoke of the danger due to the extraordinarily rapid growth of the church, yet nevertheless urged the desirability of trusting it with enlarged responsibilities. As far as my experience goes this has been done in Korea to a greater extent than anywhere else in the many mission fields that I have visited. The Christians have shown such a keen desire for instruction, together with such an aptitude for learning, that they are much more capable of self-government, and of forming a national church, than would be conceived possible by those who have not seen this wonderful people. They have devoted themselves with extraordinary ardour to the study of the Bible. The membership of a great Bible class at Syen Chun is over thirteen hundred, and the Bible is the most read book in Korea to-day. They memorise it apparently as well as do the Chinese; two school girls may be mentioned as having learnt by heart the whole of the New Testament, with the exception of St. Matthew’s Gospel, in the course of a year. Yet less than thirty years ago it was prohibited to sell it in the Hermit Kingdom, as Korea has so justly been called, and it was only possible to do so by having the Gospels done up in bundles, unbound, and distributed through the country by the natives. To them is mainly due the introduction of Christianity into Korea.
Another striking feature of the Korean church is the importance they attach to prayer, and their implicit belief in its efficacy. Where else in the world is to be found a weekly prayer-meeting which habitually numbers thirteen or fourteen hundred? Yet such is the case at the Central Church at Pyöng Yang. Mention has already been made (page 78) of an early morning prayer-meeting, which cannot find a parallel, I think, in any of our home churches.
No less important is the characteristic of generosity both in the matter of money and labour. In some churches they are hardly willing to admit any one as a member who has not already won at least one convert to Christianity. A form of contribution was started by which people promise to give a day’s work during a certain specified time. Last year there were over 67,000 days promised throughout the country. It is hardly necessary to give further details as to the generosity of the Koreans with regard to money, because of what has already been related, but I must point out that the majority of the Korean Christians are extremely poor, and great self-sacrifice is involved by the amount of work which they support, as well as by what they do personally.
CHAPTER IX
The History of Roman Catholicism in Korea
The extraordinarily rapid progress of Protestant missions in Korea makes one turn with interest to the past history of the country in its attitude towards Christianity, as shown in the work of the Roman Catholics. This history is a very unique one, and is characterised by some of the same features as we see to-day; the zeal, self-sacrifice, and faith, the independent spirit which makes the Koreans able, if need be, to carry on the work without foreign aid, are to be seen on every page of its history. No church has had to pass through more ceaseless and relentless persecution for the first century of its existence, nor has counted more heroic martyrs among its members. The story has been fully told in Père Dallet’s Histoire de l’Église de Korée, and I was so impressed with that work that I have ventured to make a brief sketch of it, in the hope that it will be of interest to those who are unable to study that history for themselves.
The first introduction of Christianity into Korea was a strange one. In 1592 Japan sent an army of 200,000 men to conquer the country, and a large number of these men had been selected for the purpose because they were Roman Catholics, and Japan was anxious to get rid of them. The great general known as Taïko Sama thought this was an excellent method of extermination, but when the war was prolonged, the Christian admiral of the fleet sent to Japan for priests and commenced missionary work. Many converts were baptized, and things looked promising, when the sudden recall of the army to Japan, followed by a fierce persecution, completely stamped out the work in both countries.
Korea continued her policy of jealously excluding all foreigners from entering the country, and only occasionally were a few books (printed in Chinese) sent over by the Jesuits from Peking. Not until 1784 was the work recommenced, and then it emanated from a purely Korean source. A young man called Piek-i, of great physical strength and intellectual keenness, heard that the father of a friend of his was going as ambassador to the court of China, and that his son was to accompany him. He therefore begged his friend, Senghoun-i, to use the opportunity to visit the foreigners there, in order to study their science and religion. Senghoun-i not only fulfilled his friend’s request, but was so deeply impressed by what he heard that he became a Christian and was baptized, after which he returned to his native land, carrying books, crosses, and pictures with him. He at once sent books to Piek-i, who retired into solitude to study them, and was soon convinced by pondering over the life of Christ of the truth of what he read. No sooner did Piek-i become a Christian than he set out to tell his friend, Senghoun-i, the good news. “The great God of Heaven,” he said, “has had pity on the millions of our fellow-countrymen, and He desires us to make them share in the benefits of the Redemption of the world. It is the command of God. We cannot be deaf to His call. We must spread this religion and evangelise the whole world.” How thoroughly these words express the feelings and action of the Korean Christians of the present day!
Piek-i at once commenced the work of evangelisation, and success attended his labours; but close upon its heels came that persecution which was to continue down to the present day. There were no foreign missionaries to help or instruct the youthful disciples, and naturally they were unable to see the bearing of Christian teaching upon the customs to which they had always been accustomed. They evolved from their books a conception of the priesthood, and elected from their number a sort of religious hierarchy, which existed for some years undisturbed. When eventually they heard that this was not sanctioned by the authorities at Peking, and that they must utterly renounce the ancestor worship, which formed the basis of their former religious belief, and was so integral a part of the national life, it was a severe blow to them. They loyally obeyed, however, the mandate to destroy the ancestral tablets, and a storm of persecution swept over the church.