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 BV 2550 .A8 1904 
 
 The Asiatic fields 
 
The Asiatic Fields 
 
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 The Asiatic Fields 
 
 <>& 
 
 Addresses delivered before the 
 Eastern Missionary Con- 
 vention of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, Philadelphia, 
 Pa., October 13-15, 1903 
 
 ~~V^V\\\6\ .Qo'^'K.f^jrYWow u\aar<s5s<ss 
 
 NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS 
 CINCINNATI : JENNINGS & PVE 
 
^ 
 
 The Philadelphia Convention Addresses are pub- 
 lished in a series of seven small volumes, of 
 which this is one. The volumes are entitled : 
 
 A CALL TO ADVANCE 
 
 MISSIONS AND WORLD MOVEMENTS 
 
 THE ASIATIC FIELDS 
 
 THE AFRICAN, EUROPEAN, AND 
 LATIN AMERICAN FIELDS 
 
 GENERAL SURVEY AND HOME FIELDS 
 
 YOUNG PEOPLE AND MISSIONS 
 
 THE MISSIONARY WORKSHOP 
 
 Copyright, 1904, by 
 Eaton & Mains 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. India ^. 7 
 
 Bishop James M. Thoburn, D.D. 
 
 II. China: The Field and its Con- 
 quest . .,v^. 30 
 
 Rev. Homer Eaton, D. D. 
 
 III. Successes and Opportunities in 
 China. . .y( 
 
 Rev, James Simester, B.D. 
 
 China . . .y( 51 
 
 IV. Successes and Opportunities in 
 
 Korea ./\ 65 
 
 V 
 
 Rev. George Heber Jones, Ph.D. 
 
 V. Successes and Opportunities in 
 
 Japan . . . .^yf. 90 
 
 Rev. David S. Spencer, D.D. 
 
The Asiatic Fields, 
 
 I. 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 By BISHOP JAMES M. THOBURN, D.D. 
 
 I HAVE no doubt that you all greatly enjoy 
 the reports you hear coming in from the 
 different parts of the world. I think I get 
 more pleasure, however, and refreshment 
 from listening to those reports than anyone 
 else present. I remember very vividly 
 when I became a missionary, and I am 
 not a very old man yet, but I remember 
 the first Conference I attended, in 1858, 
 when I saw Dr. Durbin for the first time, 
 and I heard him speak, and he gave the best 
 report he possibly could of our missionary 
 work. It was almost exclusively confined 
 
 7 
 
The: Asiatic Fidi^ds. 
 
 to the work among the American Indians. 
 I can remember it. He stated in tones I 
 can never forget that after ten years' faith- 
 ful labor on the part of our missionaries 
 in China — and I repeat his words when I 
 say it — God had given us our first convert 
 in China. And the great Methodist 
 preacher seemed as happy over the conver- 
 sion of that one Chinaman as you have been 
 to-day in hearing of the ten thousand con- 
 verts from the East, from the West, and 
 from the North and South, and from almost 
 every part of this globe. I have said I have 
 been happy, because I can appreciate the 
 advance of these years as perhaps very few 
 of you can. 
 
 Now in speaking of India I can give 
 you only a very hasty sketch. India on 
 the map is one thing to see, and the 
 missionary dominion is another. We have 
 changed the title of our mission deliberately. 
 We say no longer "the Mission to India." 
 
 8 
 
IlsDIA. 
 
 It is our ^'Mission in Southern Asia" — a 
 change which I suggested to the General 
 Conference in 1892. 
 
 We have gone beyond the shores of India 
 and have taken up Malaysia and the great 
 islands in the Indian Archipelago, and also 
 the islands of the Philippines. We in- 
 clude in our field the kingdom of Siam, 
 which contains three million Chinamen. 
 Our Presbyterian brethren out there have 
 twice come in person to see me, when I 
 visited the region around Singapore, to 
 urge the planting of a mission at Bangkok, 
 in the Chinese community. The Presby- 
 terians confined themselves to work among 
 the Siamese, urging us to take up work 
 among the Chinese. All this makes a very 
 vast region, a field in which we encounter 
 the usual difficulties. We at first kept 
 ourselves confined to a little district con- 
 taining seventeen million people, but God 
 has in the last few years clearly led us far- 
 
 9 
 
Thd Asiatic Fie:i,ds. 
 
 ther afield. We have a very vast territory 
 and we are preaching in thirty-five lan- 
 guages — and the number I may say is annu- 
 ally increasing. We have gained access to 
 many classes, to some extent among all the 
 
 classes. 
 
 The: Classes Re:ache:d. 
 
 You may meet a man who will tell you he 
 has been in India and he has learned of our 
 failure, and that we have never made any 
 Mohammedan converts. I must now cor- 
 rect that mistaken idea. You may take up 
 the appointments in almost any one of our 
 Indian Conferences and you will come upon 
 names, one after another, every one rep- 
 resenting a converted Mohammedan. They 
 would tell you, as I was told since I came 
 to this convention, that the intelligent ob- 
 server who had been around the globe — and 
 in this connection I would say that taking a 
 trip around the globe does not necessarily 
 make a man intelligent — the man who had 
 
 10 
 
India. 
 
 passed around the globe and had visited 
 India, had formed a conclusion that there 
 are no converts among the natives from the 
 higher classes. But if you will take the list 
 of appointments of the Annual Conferences 
 you will find the names of many Brahmans, 
 and of many Rajpoots, who stand next to 
 the Brahmans. 
 
 We have converts from nearly every class 
 in our list. A great majority come from 
 the lowest class, which we call there the 
 depressed section and what the word de- 
 pressed means you will perhaps need to 
 have explained. Take this room, and away 
 up yonder you may find a few scattered peo- 
 ple. In the next gallery there would be 
 more, and in the next still more, and then 
 there would be a large audience on this 
 floor. Well, that represents the exact con- 
 ditions of Indian society ; the Brahmans are 
 at the top, and are very high up in the social 
 
 scale, but they have comparatively very little 
 
 II 
 
The: Asiatic Fie;i.ds. 
 
 influence upon the masses of the country. 
 But we have won converts from among 
 them from the first, and we have very many 
 of them, and we get them every year. Then 
 we get a good many from the Rajpoots. 
 They have been very exclusive, but I re- 
 member that when I was leaving India last 
 March Dr. J. E. Scott reported to me that 
 he had about ten thousand of the Rajpoots 
 as candidates for baptism ; that is, of one of 
 the highest castes. Then we come to the 
 lower range, and after that you will find a 
 still lower scale, and then there are fifty 
 million people below the lowest scale of re- 
 spectability. But this fifty million of people 
 are cut up into castes also. From the lowest 
 of the low to the highest God has given 
 us converts. 
 
 Uplifting De;pre;sse:d Classes. 
 
 You will find the depressed classes are 
 the ones that at the present time are the 
 
 12 
 
India. 
 
 most accessible and are being converted in 
 large numbers; whole villages, thousands 
 and tens of thousands of people. And what 
 does it mean? It indicates that they have 
 learned that there is no hope for them in 
 Hinduism and no hope for them in Moham- 
 medanism and no hope for them in Bud- 
 dhism; their only hope is in Christianity. 
 And they can understand it. For instance, 
 it is with them as it is with the colored peo- 
 ple of the South with respect to education. 
 There are public schools for the colored 
 men in the South ; that is, entire schools that 
 are taught by white teachers. The law may 
 technically give the colored pupil the right, 
 but public sentiment is such that he does not 
 go to a white school. The English have 
 schools in large numbers all through India. 
 They allow every parent to send his boy to 
 school, but, as a matter of fact, the children 
 of this depressed class do not go. It would 
 be too hot for them if they were admitted. 
 
 13 
 
The: Asiatic Fie:i.ds. 
 
 The higher classes are so stupid that, in 
 some cases, when we build little huts for all 
 low-class scholars the outraged Brahmans 
 come and destroy and set fire to them, for 
 they feel we are doing them a wrong in try- 
 ing to elevate these people; but when the 
 low-caste people become Christians they are 
 then respectable. They are Christians, and 
 the title allows them to draw water from the 
 public wells. It admits them to the schools. 
 The low-caste Hindu may be rejected from 
 the school door, but when he becomes a 
 Christian he gains admittance. Hence, 
 there is a great movement at present in the 
 direction of Christianity. 
 
 But some one says, "Now that is all secu- 
 lar, and we would like to hear of the spirit- 
 ual work." My dear friend, there is no truly 
 spiritual work that does not affect the secu- 
 lar side of humanity; you cannot separate 
 them. It is because of the spiritual element 
 that we are there at all, and it is because of 
 
 14 
 
India. 
 
 the spiritual element that these poor fellows 
 are brought to us in the movement that is 
 going on now; and the idea is abroad in 
 the land— that it is to their interest to become 
 Christians— and you might as well go down 
 to the seaside and raise up heaps of sand in 
 order to stop the inflow of the tide of the sea 
 as to stop the men who have commenced 
 to take part in this movement among the 
 fifty million of depressed human beings in 
 Southern Asia. 
 
 Capacity f^or Advanceme:nt. 
 
 Now you ask me, 'When they become 
 Christians, what are they ? Do you really 
 find that they have the capacity for advance- 
 ment?" We find many that have. There 
 are many classes that can understand and 
 do advance. They are divided and sub- 
 divided. But the boys in our schools are 
 able to compete with the boys in any of the 
 other schools. Moreover, we have opened 
 
 15 
 
The; Asiatic Fields. 
 
 a college for the young men and also a 
 college for the young women; and they 
 have the right to be side by side. We have 
 a bright young man, one of the notable 
 preachers, who in three years' time after he 
 was converted, was reading the Sanskrit — 
 and I have not learned it in the past forty- 
 four years! I do meet again and again 
 many of this depressed class who have just 
 as good brain-power as any of the others, 
 and for the present I am content to teach 
 such men as these. 
 
 Now as we are given the right of way it 
 has led us to this point : that we have whole 
 communities asking for baptism, thousands 
 and tens of thousands, and multitudes be- 
 yond, and what can we do ? To give you an 
 illustration of this I might say that if I were 
 to go back again to that country, and they 
 were to bring me forward twenty-five con- 
 verts, and I should baptize that number 
 every day for three hundred and sixty-five 
 
 i6 
 
India. 
 
 days I would not exhaust the number at 
 present who are accepted candidates for 
 baptism. The work is expanding in just 
 that way. 
 
 Well, some one has said, ''Why don't you 
 go on and baptize them at once?" Why, a 
 great many censure us for baptizing too 
 rapidly ; a great many have thought that we 
 have been progressing too fast. It requires 
 us to exert a specific effort to hold back the 
 work in that respect, and for this reason: 
 If you should to-day bring a million of peo- 
 ple into the Church who don't understand 
 anything at all about Christ's mission on 
 earth, and the message we carry to them in 
 his name, it would not do. We are admit- 
 ting them as rapidly as we can, but this is 
 the trend this especial work is taking. When 
 I go back — I expect to sail next week for 
 India — I shall say to our missionaries : "Se- 
 lect a dozen men — youngish men, a dozen of 
 
 the very best men you can get — and give 
 2 17 
 
Thk Asiatic Fie:i.ds. 
 
 them instruction for about six months, and 
 then turn them out among the people to im- 
 part what they know, and after three 
 months bring them back again and give 
 them further instruction for three months 
 more and then send them back again." In 
 this way we would train our men while they 
 are in the work, and before two years have 
 passed away a thousand men would have 
 become five thousand. We stand appalled, 
 for we see the multitudes coming. 
 
 The Power o^ Vision. 
 
 Some have said, since this Convention 
 began, that we lack vision. It may be we 
 don't all understand it. I wrote back some 
 years ago, when I heard there was a book 
 to be published by the Church, to put in 
 one chapter on "Vision." I venture to say 
 it is a gift of the Spirit of God that will 
 abide in the Church as long as the Spirit of 
 God abides in human hearts. "Your young 
 
 i8 
 
India. 
 
 men shall see visions." Those visions are 
 one of God's methods of teaching us all the 
 way through life. I have found that chap- 
 ter has been criticised as visionary, and per- 
 chance it may be to some people. It matters 
 not about that, but visions we do have, and 
 that is a fact ; and I am going to tell you of 
 a vision God showed to me. 
 
 I went on a visit to my missionary work- 
 ers. I went up to Northern India and felt, 
 as they all felt, that we should reach some 
 result, now that we had come together. We 
 had twelve men who were to be ordained as 
 ministers. The whole congregation of Chris- 
 tians were full of joy. We had twelve men 
 as preachers of the word who were to be 
 set apart for the work by the laying on of 
 hands in the name of Jesus Christ. My own 
 heart was greatly moved, and I glanced 
 over the audience and thought of the future. 
 Here are only twelve ; how many will follow 
 them? As I went down to lay my hands 
 
 19 
 
Thd Asiatic Fields. 
 
 upon them it seemed to me as though I had 
 a vision of what was to follow, and I saw 
 a longer line behind them, and a still longer 
 row behind that row, and then another, and 
 then another, until it seemed as if all the 
 way to the distant horizon I saw a great 
 multitude coming to God, blessed of the 
 Spirit And the Spirit said to me, 'Xo, 
 these are they who are to take up this work 
 in the coming years." 
 
 So three years passed away and I met the 
 Conference again in the same church in the 
 same town, and I laid these hands on fifty- 
 three men — the twelve had become fifty- 
 three. And this year I could, if I would, set 
 apart a thousand men who will take up the 
 work and go into it and raise up Christian 
 communities, and beyond that thousand 
 there are other thousands who, no doubt, 
 will be converted and will take the work up. 
 You and I must familiarize ourselves with 
 this matter, for there will be tens of thou- 
 
 20 
 
India. 
 
 sands of men set apart by the Spirit of the 
 living God for the missions of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ; to take up the work and to 
 make him known to the perishing milHons, 
 yea, hundreds of milHons. 
 
 Vast Multitudes and Mone:y. 
 
 We do not allow ourselves, really, to take 
 in a clear and full view of the situation. 
 Our brethren in China talk about four hun- 
 dred millions and you don't comprehend it; 
 and we talk about three hundred and fifty 
 millions in India, and verily that is an arith- 
 metical expression and nothing more. But 
 it must be grasped. 
 
 Christians must learn to live entirely by 
 faith, and to believe that a man must also 
 give of his wealth, in the name of Jesus 
 Christ, for the salvation of the perishing 
 world. He must do it, to be a Christian. We 
 must give more and more of our abundance, 
 and we must give more and more from our 
 
 21 
 
The Asiatic Fie;i.ds. 
 
 poverty ; and the great Christian hosts of 
 this world will do it when they come to 
 evangelize the world and are made to see 
 the actual conditions as they exist. How 
 will you fill the treasury so that these men 
 will be supported, and how will you bring 
 forward the means to this all-important 
 end? 
 
 India's Ni:w Womanhood. 
 
 I wish I had time to just mention in 
 a word what God has been doing dur- 
 ing these years in India. Our mission was 
 among seventeen millions and there were 
 not seventeen girls that could read a single 
 line. I remember when I urged the people 
 to educate their daughters they told us it 
 was absolutely unnecessary. The women 
 could not learn; they had not the brains. 
 Then we instanced our wives and daugh- 
 ters, and said that they had learned to read, 
 and the reply was: "O, they are different; 
 you have a different kind of a home. Our 
 
 22 
 
India. 
 
 women cannot do it, and if they could do 
 it it would be a wrong thing to teach them." 
 And right there, in that community, we 
 have founded a woman's college, and we 
 have native women to-day in that institu- 
 tion who have attained as high an average 
 as your women college graduates in the 
 United States. We have thousands and 
 thousands of girls now going to the Chris- 
 tian schools. 
 
 You may say that the culture of Christian 
 women has not only been introduced there, 
 but a new womanhood. It is seen in the 
 person of these women converts, and 
 woman has now been emancipated. How is 
 it? A high-class Hindu woman will now 
 go to the Christian schools, and I have seen 
 them seated on the benches studying side 
 by side with their poorer sisters. You will 
 find this in many parts of India. If Chris- 
 tianity has done nothing more than to eman- 
 cipate the intellect of Indian womanhood it 
 
 23 
 
The; Asiatic Fidlds. 
 
 would have compensated a thousand times 
 over for every dollar of money ever sent 
 abroad. 
 
 BUII.DING A Christian Lite:rature:. 
 
 Then there is the work of literature. We 
 are publishing several newspapers in India 
 to-day exclusively for the natives, and it 
 is guaranteed that there shall not be a line 
 in any of them that would be offensive to 
 the delicacy of an Indian woman. We have 
 fxve of these papers being circulated all the 
 time. Young women are living somewhere 
 in the United States to-day who will have 
 to come out to the Eastern world to lay the 
 foundation of Christian literature for 
 women and for that coming Christianity of 
 the East. We can take books and have 
 them translated into the Chinese and other 
 oriental languages, and we can take theirs 
 and translate them into our own language. 
 Think of building up a literature for the 
 
 24 
 
India. 
 
 men and women of the Eastern world. 
 What a task ! We want your thousands, we 
 want your milHons. And they are coming. 
 We are going to have them. 
 
 We have men now in Bombay and in 
 Madras engaged in this work, and we have 
 five pubHshing houses ; and in the southeast 
 we have a business house from which books 
 and Hterature are sent to Manila. We have 
 a man at the present time, known to many 
 of you, Dr. Rudisill, formerly of Baltimore, 
 living in Madras. He is a man familiar 
 with the vernacular and a man of devotion ; 
 this you will find out the minute you ap- 
 proach him. I think you do appreciate him, 
 and I am glad of it ; for you should appre- 
 ciate him at his value. And if you send 
 him $10,000 he will show you what he will 
 do with it. He needs just that sum of 
 money at the present time. If you could 
 give him $20,000 I believe he has agencies 
 where it could be placed, and it would give 
 
 25 
 
The: Asiatic Fiei^ds. 
 
 a new impetus to the publishing work for 
 the next hundred years. 
 
 Our RESPONSIBII.ITY. 
 
 We have had all along to struggle as if 
 we were beggars, with this condition of 
 things staring us in the face and without 
 money. It is always this one thing that 
 seems to be needed, and when I think of it 
 I may use some strong language to express 
 what I would say. In my appeal I fear I have 
 used terms which sound more like a demand, 
 because I realize in my inmost soul the great 
 responsibility that is lying upon us in this 
 extraordinary age ; and at the present time 
 it is chiefly a financial responsibility. The 
 missionaries can be found if the money is 
 provided. It is simply a question of gather- 
 ing it together, and if the work is to be done 
 people must be set to work to get it. 
 
 I have had men come with the kindest of 
 feeling, and they have spoken of the many 
 
 26 
 
India. 
 
 years I have been in the field, and have as- 
 sured me of their heart's sympathy with 
 me in the work. My dear brothers, when 
 you have felt in prayer that you were un- 
 willing to leave your fireside even for this 
 movement — and when you have had the as- 
 surance in your heart that you were the 
 disciple of Jesus Christ — has it ever oc- 
 curred to you that the interests in India 
 were your interests ? Having these feelings 
 very deeply in your heart, have you ever felt 
 the desire to see that those interests were 
 conserved, and that the Saviour desires it 
 infinitely more, and that you ought to be 
 moved to do for him what your village 
 sweep would do for him — and even some- 
 thing more than that? For remember it is 
 a work for the Master. 
 
 Christ Walking Among the Nations. 
 
 O, if we only realized that He who once 
 walked among the hills of Galilee is walk- 
 
 27 
 
The: Asiatic Fie:i,ds. 
 
 ing about to-day among the nations and that 
 he has girded up his loins and is going to 
 release them from their agony ! There 
 are more good men and women in this 
 world than we allow ourselves to believe. I 
 do not believe that this world is all going to 
 everlasting wreck. 
 
 I believe God has his plans. He is above 
 us. He is taking account of the course of 
 nations, and among all the responsible men 
 and women in this world there are enough 
 to carry forward the missionary campaign 
 of Jesus Christ. So we are those upon 
 whom the weightiest responsibility rests to- 
 day, and I praise God from my inmost soul 
 that, in the years I trust yet distant, the 
 Lord Jesus Christ will lay his hand upon 
 this poor unworthy head and recognize in 
 his servant one who has been his follower 
 and one of his missionaries in that far-off 
 field, and has represented the missionary in- 
 terests of Methodism in the world. We 
 
 28 
 
India. 
 
 were a few at first ; we are more now, and 
 we will be a multitude not many years 
 hence; and may God hasten the day when 
 we can count our Methodist missionaries by 
 the thousands ! 
 
 29 
 
II. 
 
 CHINA: THE FIELD AND ITS 
 CONQUEST. 
 
 By REV. HOMER EATON, D.D. 
 
 The problems which present themselves 
 for solution in the prosecution of Christian 
 work in all heathen nations are many and 
 great. Especially is this so in the great 
 empire of China. Here is a vast population, 
 estimated at something over four hundred 
 millions, spread over a wide expanse of ter- 
 ritory, the subjects of a government hostile 
 to Christianity, and even opposed to the 
 presence of foreigners in the country, to 
 whom the Christian world is seeking to 
 carry the Gospel of the Son of God. The 
 work of evangelizing these people is one 
 
 30 
 
China. 
 
 of no ordinary magnitude, and must be at- 
 tended with untold difficulties. 
 
 Here is one of the most ancient govern- 
 ments known to history, with venerable re- 
 ligious beliefs and the most firmly rooted 
 superstitions, for which the people in every 
 part of the empire are ready and willing to 
 die. 
 
 Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism are 
 the dominant faiths, and are everywhere 
 prevalent. The first presents a system of 
 morals containing much that is pure and 
 good, but the last two are rank superstition 
 and idolatry. To overthrow these and build 
 up the kingdom of Christ in China is the 
 task to which the Christian Church has set 
 herself. 
 
 That the work will be toilsome and slow 
 must be expected. Much money and many 
 years of earnest and self-sacrificing labor 
 have already been expended, and multitudes 
 of converts have been made, but the great 
 
 31 
 
The: Asiatic Fields. 
 
 field has only been touched on its outer rim. 
 How shall the interior be reached and the 
 whole vast area be brought under the influ- 
 ence and saving power of the Gospel? 
 
 The Present Situation. 
 
 Let us look at the situation as it is to-day. 
 Leaving out of view for the present the mis- 
 sionary enterprises of other Christian de- 
 nominations or organizations, let us take a 
 survey of the work of our own Church, and 
 note some of the successes already achieved. 
 
 First of all, we have a strong center at 
 Foochow, in the southerly portion of the 
 empire. Here our work in China began. At 
 first it was slow and discouraging, but in 
 more recent years its progress has been 
 more rapid. School, hospital, and evangel- 
 istic work are being prosecuted with great 
 success. A large Church membership has 
 been gathered, and the number is rapidly 
 increasing. 
 
 32 
 
China. 
 
 In Central and West China we have es- 
 tabhshed ourselves at various ports on the 
 great Yang-tse River and in the adjacent 
 country, planting schools, hospitals, and 
 churches in which most important and suc- 
 cessful work is being done. Our schools are 
 filled with young men who are eager to 
 learn, our hospitals are crowded with all 
 classes from the highest to the lowest seek- 
 ing relief from bodily disease and suffering, 
 and our houses of worship are thronged 
 with attentive listeners to the truth, and 
 many are being converted and brought into 
 the Church. 
 
 Going north through the Yellow Sea and 
 up the Peiho River to Tientsin, we find an- 
 other center occupied in strength and show- 
 ing a large and growing work. We have 
 in the foreign settlement at Tientsin a well- 
 equipped school crowded with Chinese boys, 
 and a commodious church edifice where na- 
 tives in large numbers assemble for divine 
 3 33 
 
The Asiatic Fields. 
 
 worship. Our two street chapels in the 
 old walled city were destroyed during the 
 Boxer uprising in 1900 and have not yet 
 been rebuilt. Two other preaching places 
 have been secured, however, where evan- 
 gelistic services are held daily. 
 
 Passing on to Peking, the capital of the 
 empire, we are introduced to a property 
 and a work that, in view of recent events, 
 are most gratifying and full of encourage- 
 ment. We had accumulated a strong work- 
 ing force, built up a fine property, and es- 
 tablished a most successful work here prior 
 to the great Boxer uprising of 1900. The 
 cloud which then gathered over the heads 
 of all foreigners broke in terrible fury, 
 sweeping away all our buildings, leaving 
 nothing but great heaps of rubbish, and 
 causing our missionaries to flee for their 
 lives. Many native Christians were cruelly 
 murdered, and devastation and ruin reigned 
 supreme. 
 
 34 
 
China. 
 
 When the memorable siege of the lega- 
 tions was raised, and our faithful mission- 
 aries and the surviving native Christians 
 came forth from what it was feared would 
 be to all the house of death, they saw such 
 desolation as their eyes had never before 
 looked upon; and we do not wonder that 
 they were filled with anguish and dismay. 
 It seemed for the moment that the results 
 of the labor of years had been well-nigh de- 
 stroyed, and that it would require a genera- 
 tion or more to restore the work to its for- 
 mer proportions. But such fears were 
 groundless. It was my privilege a few 
 weeks ago to walk over the ground that 
 had been made desolate, and to note the 
 rapidity with which all things connected 
 with our work are assuming their former 
 proportions and even putting on new 
 strength and beauty. 
 
 Such, in brief, is the condition of our 
 work in China to-day. While much has 
 
 35 
 
Th^ Asiatic Fie:i,ds. 
 
 already been accomplished and a healthful 
 growth is observable in all our missions, 
 the conditions now existing in the empire 
 should be carefully studied and the best 
 methods sought out for reaching the people 
 with the great truths of Christianity. Dur- 
 ing my brief stay in China and my hurried 
 observations of the conditions prevailing 
 there, a few things profoundly impressed 
 me. Of some of these let me speak. 
 
 The VitaIv Importanci: o^ Educationai, 
 Work. 
 
 The Chinese are not wanting in a knowl- 
 edge of the principles of government and 
 civil life. They have a complete code of 
 laws — a code that would not be discredit- 
 able to any European government — and or- 
 dinarily they are not slow nor lax in the 
 enforcement of these laws. In China, how- 
 ever, it is often possible for criminals to 
 purchase immunity from punishment. 
 
 36 
 
China. 
 
 They have also a wonderful literature, a 
 literature which has come down to them 
 from remote centuries. Men who can af- 
 ford the expense are everywhere striving to 
 the utmost of their ability to secure a degree 
 in literature, and year after year they pre- 
 sent themselves at some one of the great 
 examination halls in different cities of the 
 empire to compete for the degrees which are 
 to be conferred. 
 
 Their studies are largely confined to the 
 ancient Chinese classics, and the knowledge 
 they acquire is of little practical benefit to 
 them. In a sense, therefore, the educated 
 classes are ignorant, being utter strangers 
 to a broad and practical education such as 
 the schools of other countries afford, and 
 such as fits a man for the highest and most 
 profitable pursuits in life. 
 
 This the bright and progressive young 
 men of China are beginning to see, and 
 they are seeking more and more the advan- 
 
 37 
 
The Asiatic Fie:i,ds. 
 
 tages which foreign schools afford. Even 
 the government officials are coming to rec- 
 ognize the importance of giving the young 
 men of the country a Western education, 
 and they have already established a few 
 schools and colleges on foreign lines. For 
 these institutions they seek and must have 
 teachers from abroad. It is a signifi- 
 cant, and to us an important, fact that 
 trained missionary teachers are preferred, 
 and American missionaries are in highest 
 demand. 
 
 ScHooi,s The: Key to the Situation. 
 
 So far as modern school work in China 
 is concerned, the missionaries have the field. 
 Their educational work is appreciated, and 
 more students are seeking admission to our 
 schools than can be accommodated. To my 
 mind, the schools of our missions are the 
 key to the situation. To strengthen them 
 and increase their number and efficiency is 
 
 38 
 
China. 
 
 to strengthen and extend our evangelistic 
 work. 
 
 In sending missionaries to China, as to 
 other heathen countries, the great and all- 
 absorbing thought is to preach the Gospel 
 of Christ to the people and win them to the 
 cross. While this thought and purpose 
 should ever be uppermost in the mind and 
 effort of the Church, the fact that the basis 
 of all successful evangelistic work is educa- 
 tion must not be overlooked. While we 
 are commanded by our Lord to go preach, 
 we are commanded also to go teach all 
 nations. 
 
 That the success of the missionary work 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church in China 
 has been so marked is due largely to the 
 fact that very soon after entering upon it 
 we recognized the importance of establish- 
 ing schools of different grades and acted 
 accordingly. 
 
 A brief examination of our educational 
 39 
 
The: Asiatic Fidi^ds. 
 
 work and its results will show the wisdom 
 of its founding, and the importance of in- 
 creasing its strength and efficiency by 
 furnishing the men and means necessary 
 thereto. 
 
 Universities and their Feeders. 
 
 It is an acknowledged fact that our uni- 
 versities at Peking and Nanking and the 
 Anglo-Chinese College at Foochow stand 
 foremost among the institutions of learning 
 in China. Important feeders to these insti- 
 tutions of higher learning are the day 
 schools which have been established in hun- 
 dreds of places throughout our mission ter- 
 ritory, and which are rapidly increasing in 
 number. This phase of Christian work in 
 China has never been made especially prom- 
 inent in the reports which have come to us 
 from the field, and I fear its real value is 
 far too little known and appreciated in the 
 home Church. 
 
 40 
 
China. 
 
 What are the day schools ? Small apart- 
 ments are secured at various points in the 
 great cities and in rural towns, where 
 twenty or thirty boys from eight to thirteen 
 years of age come together each day for 
 instruction. The teachers in these schools 
 are native Christians, and their influence 
 over the boys is most salutary. While giv- 
 ing instruction in the rudiments of Chinese 
 literature, they also teach them the doctrines 
 of the Christian religion and seek to bring 
 them to a personal knowledge of the Sav- 
 iour. In the Foochow Conference alone, 
 there are two hundred or more of these 
 schools, with about five thousand boys in 
 attendance. Some of these schools have 
 been opened in places where no preaching 
 service had ever been held, and the schools 
 prepared the way, and even created a de- 
 mand, for the preaching of the Gospel. 
 
 It was my privilege in the early summer 
 of 1903 to visit several of the day schools 
 
 41 
 
The; Asiatic Fidi^ds. 
 
 within the old walled city of Foochow. The 
 boys seemed greatly interested in their 
 studies, and I was told that they make rapid 
 progress in acquiring knowledge. One of 
 the schools which I visited is held in a 
 Buddhist temple, the room being leased for 
 the purpose. Here, where many idols are 
 seen, with incense burning on the altars be- 
 fore them, Chinese boys were learning of 
 the true God and of our Saviour, Jesus 
 Christ. They recited to me through an in- 
 terpreter some of the lessons they had 
 learned from the New Testament, and sang 
 to me the songs of our holy religion. It 
 was soul-stirring to hear them. 
 
 It is a recognized fact that even in Chris- 
 tian lands we must seek by every means 
 possible to instruct the children in the great 
 truths of the Bible and impress upon young 
 minds the verities of the Christian religion 
 if we would surely find them in the ranks 
 
 of Christian believers and earnest Church 
 
 42 
 
China. 
 
 workers in their mature years. If this be 
 true of the children of nominal Christian 
 homes in an enlightened Christian country, 
 what shall we say of the importance and 
 even necessity of bringing heathen children 
 under religious instruction, before the idol- 
 atrous beliefs and superstitious teachings of 
 their people bind their souls in chains almost 
 too strong to be broken? We cannot too 
 strongly emphasize the importance of this 
 work among the boys of China; and the 
 marvelous success already achieved in the 
 work should stimulate the Church to far 
 more liberal giving for its support. 
 
 Next come the high schools for boys 
 which we have established in goodly num- 
 bers, and which are crowded with young 
 men eager to secure a liberal Western edu- 
 cation. Out from the high schools and the 
 preparatory schools these young men come 
 seeking admission to our colleges and uni- 
 versities. Prominent in the curriculum of 
 
 43 
 
The; Asiatic Fiei^ds. 
 
 all our schools is the study of the Holy 
 Scriptures and the doctrines of the Chris- 
 tian religion; and it is a notable fact that 
 comparatively few students graduate from 
 our institutions of learning in China with- 
 out embracing the Christian faith and ex- 
 periencing the power of Christ to save. 
 Many of them enter the ministry and go 
 forth to preach the Gospel in its simplic- 
 ity and power to their own people. The 
 importance, therefore, of enlarging and 
 strengthening our schools of all grades in 
 China cannot be overestimated. 
 
 Mi:dicaIv Work. 
 
 / was deeply impressed also with the im- 
 portance of our medical work in hospitals 
 and in the homes of the people. There are 
 no Chinese physicians worthy the name ex- 
 cept the few that have been trained in our 
 schools or graduated from medical colleges 
 in this country. The cures wrought and the 
 
 44 
 
China. 
 
 successful surgical operations performed by 
 our missionary physicians seem miraculous 
 to the natives of China. Our hospitals are 
 filled v/ith patients. Our dispensaries are 
 thronged with people seeking remedies for 
 their bodily ailments, and our physicians 
 have more calls to visit the sick in their 
 homes than can possibly be answered. In 
 connection with all this medical work, 
 Christian teaching is faithfully and earnestly 
 practiced, and with many a poor sufferer 
 the healing touch comes to the soul as well 
 as to the body. Thus our medical mission- 
 aries are given access to many homes and 
 hearts that otherwise would be forever 
 closed to them. 
 
 EvANGKi^isTic Work. 
 
 And now, having brought the boys and 
 young men of a community under the in- 
 fluence of Christian schools, and having 
 broken down the prejudices and overcome 
 
 45 
 
Thi: Asiatic Fie:i.ds. 
 
 many of the superstitions of the people, 
 through our medical work, we are prepared 
 to prosecute evangelistic work with greater 
 efficiency and success. 
 
 You must not understand me as in any 
 way undervaluing evangelistic work and the 
 plain, forceful preaching of the Gospel to 
 the pagan millions of China. Our chief 
 work is to bring these people to a knowl- 
 edge of the true God and to a saving faith 
 in Jesus Christ, his Son. It is only to make 
 the preaching of the Gospel more effective 
 and a great harvest of souls more sure that 
 I plead for the enlargement of our school 
 and hospital work. With these forces com- 
 bined and working in harmony the power 
 of paganism must ultimately be broken and 
 Christianity triumph throughout this mighty 
 empire. 
 
 From the founding of Protestant missions 
 in China until now evangelistic work has 
 been vigorously prosecuted in that country. 
 
 46 
 
China. 
 
 All possible means have been employed to 
 make the all-important work of soul-win- 
 ning effective. Preaching services are held 
 in street chapels and on the open streets; 
 also at village fairs, where it is com- 
 paratively easy to gather a large crowd of 
 listeners attentive to the Gospel message. 
 Special revival meetings are frequently held 
 in our churches, and sometimes with mar- 
 velous results. Sunday schools are organ- 
 ized in connection with our churches and 
 chapels wherever possible, and all kinds of 
 Church work are carried on very much as 
 in the home country. These various agen- 
 cies are accomplishing untold good, and 
 through them many benighted pagans are 
 being brought into the light and liberty of 
 the sons of God. 
 
 Unparai,i,e:i,e:d Opportunitiks. 
 
 The opportunities for successful Chris- 
 tian work in China were never so numerous 
 
 47 
 
The; Asiatic Fie:i.ds. 
 
 and great as now. Study the country and 
 its conditions to-day and you will see how 
 the opportunities for successful missionary 
 work have been multiplied within the last 
 decade. Sail with me up the Yang-tse 
 River two thousand miles from its mouth, 
 and observe the great walled cities which 
 appear at frequent intervals along its banks. 
 These cities contain vast populations, and 
 are now treaty ports where all foreigners 
 are assured protection by the Chinese gov- 
 ernment and are free to prosecute mission- 
 ary work and hold property under the name 
 of their various societies for missionary pur- 
 poses. Sail up and down the seacoast, call 
 at the harbors and survey the great towns 
 that receive the commerce of the interior 
 and ship the products of the country to all 
 parts of the world, and remember that these 
 also are treaty ports where missionaries are 
 promised protection in their work by the 
 new treaty made during the present year 
 
 48 
 
China. 
 
 between China and the United States. How 
 different the situation to-day from that of 
 a few years ago when treaty ports were few 
 and the privileges of foreigners greatly cur- 
 tailed throughout the empire. New and 
 most favorable opportunities now present 
 themselves to us for successful Christian 
 work in China, opportunities which our 
 great Church should not be slow in improv- 
 ing. Every treaty port should be occupied 
 at the earliest day possible, schools and hos- 
 pitals established, evangelistic work inau- 
 gurated, and these great commercial centers 
 made the centers of missionary activity. 
 
 These are strategic points and should be 
 occupied in force. With preparatory schools 
 and colleges in which to educate the young 
 men who come to us for instruction, we 
 shall soon gather a strong working force of 
 trained native preachers. Then, as our Lord 
 "called unto him the twelve, and began to 
 send them forth by two and two" into the 
 4 49 
 
The Asiatic Fii:i.ds. 
 
 cities and villages round about, command- 
 ing them to preach that ''men should re- 
 pent," so these thoroughly equipped native 
 preachers may be sent forth ''by two and 
 two," in true apostolic fashion, to preach the 
 Gospel to their own people in the cities and 
 villages of the interior. Thus, slowly it may 
 be, but surely, shall the kingdom of our di- 
 vine Lord spread over China until that 
 mighty pagan empire shall become the in- 
 heritance of Christ our King. 
 
 50 
 
III. 
 
 SUCCESSES AND OPPORTU- 
 NITIES IN CHINA. 
 
 By REV. JAMES SIMESTER, B.D. 
 
 The line between success and opportu- 
 nity cannot be distinctly drawn. Opportu- 
 nities improved, by the grace of God, become 
 successes, and every success opens a wider 
 door of opportunity. 
 
 I. Successes. 
 
 There are three ways of measuring the 
 success of Christian missions in China — by 
 the numerical results actually achieved, by 
 the moral and spiritual transformations 
 which are the direct result of Christian ef- 
 fort, and by the forces which have been 
 
 51 
 
Thi; Asiatic Fie:ivDS. 
 
 set at work as the result of Christian mis- 
 sions, but which are themselves not con- 
 nected with the Church. 
 
 I. There are 125,000 baptized Protestant 
 Christians, in China and as many more who 
 have adopted the Christian faith. When 
 we consider the circumstances under which 
 these results have been achieved these num- 
 bers are amazing. China has been one of 
 the most difficult fields ever entered by the 
 Christian Church. In no other country were 
 the people so satisfied with themselves, their 
 nation, and their religion. In no other field, 
 save Africa and Malaysia, has the climate 
 been so fatal to the life and health of the 
 missionary as in South China, where our 
 work was begun. No other country, save 
 India, feels so bitterly the ostracism conse- 
 quent upon the acceptance of the Christian 
 religion. In no other mission field have the 
 workers been so frequently compelled to 
 flee for their lives. All the obstacles found 
 
 52 
 
China. 
 
 in any land have been met in China, while 
 here also are found difficulties not arising in 
 any other land to any great extent. 
 
 Attention has been called to the apparent 
 readiness of the Japanese to receive Chris- 
 tian truth as compared with the Chinese. 
 But it should be remembered that when 
 Japan was opened to intercourse with the 
 outside world it was done by a nation that 
 helped the Japanese to carry out their own 
 laws and develop in their own way. When 
 China was opened up it was by nations that 
 compelled her, against her will, to admit 
 the curse which is now dragging millions of 
 her people to ruin. She was compelled to 
 obey laws other than her own and develop 
 as her oppressors saw fit. America went to 
 Japan as the good shepherd, that the people 
 might have life and that they might have 
 it more abundantly. England and the Pow- 
 ers went to China as a thief to steal and to 
 kill and to destroy. And how were the 
 
 53 
 
The: Asiatic Fields. 
 
 Chinese to know that the missionaries were 
 not wolves in sheep's clothing? Treated as 
 they have been by the foreigner, the won- 
 der is that any have been found in this land 
 willing to give an attentive ear to any mes- 
 sage coming from so hateful a source. In 
 the face of these difficulties, the fact that 
 nearly a quarter of a million souls are con- 
 nected with the Christian Church as mem- 
 bers and adherents is marvelous. 
 
 But the numbers added to the Christian 
 Church are not the greatest evidence of suc- 
 cess. Better things have been done, and 
 forces have been set at work which increase 
 the efficiency of Christianity in geometrical 
 progression. Colleges in which are found 
 thousands of young men dot the land. In- 
 termediate schools for boys and girls are 
 many and crowded, and day schools can be 
 counted by the thousand. There are nearly 
 a thousand in the Fukien province alone. 
 Hospitals are daily ministering to thousands 
 
 54 
 
China. 
 
 of sick bodies while pointing sin-sick souls 
 to the Great Physician. Printing presses 
 and Bible Societies are printing annually 
 millions of pages of the Scriptures and other 
 Christian literature, 
 
 2. But a question of vital importance is 
 asked. Does Christ actually save and trans- 
 form the Chinese? Not, "How many are 
 saved?" but "How well are they saved?" 
 China has furnished to the world the great- 
 est evidence of Christianity seen since the 
 resurrection of Christ. Ten thousand native 
 Christians dying for their faith bear evi- 
 dence how well they are saved. 
 
 Jesus Christ is transforming men in China 
 as effectually as he ever did in America. 
 Highway robbers have become preachers ; 
 men deprived of mental and physical 
 strength by the use of opium have been 
 made strong ; men guilty of every conceiva- 
 ble sin have been gloriously saved; homes 
 have been transformed so that I have seen 
 
 55 
 
The Asiatic Fieilds. 
 
 family life as pure and full of love as in a 
 Christian home in America ; woman has not 
 only been lifted from a life of slavery to 
 liberty, but the estimation in which she is 
 held has been notably raised. Every phase 
 of social and business life has been changed 
 by Him who makes all things new, so that 
 it is possible to pick out the Christian Chi- 
 nese by the looks of their faces. 
 
 3. Forces have been set at work by Chris- 
 tianity which are not directly connected with 
 the Christian Church. Infanticide, once so 
 common in China, is now practically non- 
 existent. A large society has been organ- 
 ized the object of which is to stop the 
 barbarous practice of foot-binding. Ten 
 thousand heathen Chinese gentlemen have 
 pledged themselves never to have their 
 daughters' feet bound, or to marry their sons 
 to girls with bound feet. Schools are being 
 established of every grade from the pri- 
 mary to the university. A desire for rail- 
 
 56 
 
China. 
 
 roads, telegraphs, post offices, and other im- 
 provements, all of which are helps to the 
 progress of Christianity as well as results 
 of Christianity, is manifest all over the land. 
 
 II. Opportunities. 
 
 I. For Evangelistic Work. — China has a 
 population of 406,000,000, that, in spite of 
 differences of dialect and customs, are prac- 
 tically a homogeneous people. China has 
 been held together during the centuries, not 
 by despotism or by force of arms, but by the 
 essential oneness of the people. And this 
 immense population is now open to evan- 
 gelization. Ten years ago there were nine 
 hundred walled cities of China and five 
 whole provinces that were closed to the mis- 
 sionary. Now every province has been 
 opened, and the gates of every city swing 
 wide open to the messengers of Christ. 
 
 In a city less than two hundred miles 
 from Foochow, whence three times in the 
 
 ,57 
 
The Asiatic Fiei^ds. 
 
 last ten years missionaries have had to flee 
 for their lives, and twice have hidden under 
 the tiles of the roof, I have myself within 
 the past six months been welcomed by citi- 
 zen and official alike. In the very center of 
 this city are three beautiful hills, which 
 command a view not only of the whole city 
 but of the entire surrounding country. On 
 one of these hills is the newly built residence 
 of our Methodist missionary, and by its side 
 the Yenping Academy is in process of erec- 
 tion. On the second hill the Alden Speare 
 Memorial Hospital is soon to be built, and 
 we hope the Girls' and Women's School 
 will occupy the third. Just in front of all 
 three is being built a large church the money 
 for which was largely raised among the Chi- 
 nese themselves. Everywhere doors are 
 opened for the messengers of the Gospel of 
 peace. 
 
 2. For Bdiicational Work. — The greatest 
 need of China to-day is education, and the 
 
 58 
 
China. 
 
 Chinese people are looking to the Christian 
 Church for help in this respect. The efforts 
 of the Chinese government to establish 
 Confucian schools is an evidence on the one 
 hand of the widespread desire for education, 
 and on the other a tacit acknowledgment of 
 the influence of the Christian schools. Open 
 opposition to Christianity died with the 
 Boxer movement, but a silent, subtle death- 
 struggle has been begun in the schools. The 
 government wants Confucian schools, the 
 people want Christian schools. In the city 
 of Foochow are three government schools, 
 well supported and fairly well equipped. 
 Students are supported while in school and 
 are assured of good positions when they 
 finish. In the Anglo-Chinese College, just 
 outside the city, students have to pay all their 
 expenses. In the three Confucian schools, 
 where students are paid to attend and posi- 
 tions provided for them, there were last 
 term less than one hundred and fifty stu- 
 
 59 
 
The Asiatic Fiei^ds. 
 
 dents enrolled. In the one Christian school, 
 where students have to pay to come and no 
 positions are assured, three hundred and 
 thirty-six were enrolled. Many of these 
 boys are heathen when they come. Said a 
 heathen gentleman to me not long ago, "Mr. 
 Simester, do you know why I send my boys 
 to your school?" ''No," replied I, "but I 
 suppose you send them to get an education." 
 "No, I don't," said he, "I send them for the 
 moral training they get." Think of it! 
 heathen gentlemen sending their boys to 
 Christian schools to secure their moral train- 
 ing! Our intermediate schools are full all 
 the time, and there is opportunity for twice 
 as many with increased facilities. From 
 thousands of cities and villages come calls 
 for day schools, and the only limit to the 
 number of these schools we might open is 
 the number of trained native teachers. If 
 the Church would improve the opportunity 
 
 she might have the educating of the larger 
 
 60 
 
China. 
 
 part of China's young people. As go the 
 schools of this generation, so will go the 
 business, social, and national life of the next. 
 
 3. For Hospitals and Charitable Work. — 
 Innumerable cases of disease, beyond the 
 skill of Chinese physicians, are met on every 
 hand. Our hospitals are all full, and our 
 physicians overworked. Christ went every- 
 where healing them that were sick. More 
 hospitals and more physicians could be util- 
 ized at once. There are thousands of home- 
 less children that might be brought up in 
 the nurture and admonition of the Lord if 
 we had orphanages and helpers enough to 
 care for them. The blind are asking to be 
 taught to read and to work ; widows by the 
 hundred are asking for help ; whole colonies 
 of lepers need to be cared for. For all these 
 needs China appeals to the Christian Church. 
 
 4. For Publishing Houses. — Not only has 
 the press been an important factor in the 
 results already achieved, but its place in the 
 
 61 
 
The: Asiatic Fie;i,ds. 
 
 work cannot fail to be more and more im- 
 portant. Christian books and literature are 
 in great demand. A heathen viceroy re- 
 cently ordered thousands of dollars' worth 
 of Christian books from Shanghai. The 
 Christian presses have contracts for work 
 for years ahead. 
 
 5. For Work Among Women. — One of 
 the greatest opportunities lies in the work 
 for women and girls. Husbands who do 
 not care to talk about Christianity them- 
 selves are perfectly willing to have mission- 
 ary women talk to their wives. Fathers 
 who send their sons to a Confucian school 
 send their daughters to a Christian semi- 
 nary. The average Chinaman thinks it 
 makes little difference what a woman be- 
 lieves, but we know that the most eft'ective 
 individual factor in Christianity is the Chris- 
 tian woman. 
 
 Let the Church not stand on what it has 
 done, but go forward, entering every one 
 
 62 
 
China. 
 
 of these open doors, and that with a force 
 large enough and efficient enough to bring 
 this land to God. 
 
 Numerically, intellectually, and morally 
 this people is the greatest in the heathen 
 world. They tell us that in South Africa 
 there is a road constructed from the rubbish 
 taken from the Kimberley mines. Now the 
 road is being dug up, for it has been found to 
 be full of diamonds. That the surface of 
 China is covered with the filthy accretions 
 of centuries of stagnation and sin is appar- 
 ent to all, but at the bottom of this filth 
 missionaries have found streets paved with 
 gold. 
 
 They tell us that China has been asleep 
 for four thousand years and that her civil- 
 ization now should be compared with Euro- 
 pean civilization in the sixteenth century. 
 A nation that could sleep four thousand 
 years and wake up only four hundred years 
 behind civilized America is worth saving. 
 
 63 
 
The: Asiatic Fiki^ds. 
 
 The old Chinese junk is covered with 
 barnacles, but scrape these off, cover the 
 outside with a coat of modern civilization, 
 and in place of the old square sails that have 
 driven the ship whithersoever the wind listed 
 put the dynamic power of the Gospel of 
 Jesus Christ, and you will have a ship that 
 can take its place by the side of any the 
 world has ever seen. 
 
 China aroused and enlightened and filled 
 with the Holy Ghost would sweep through 
 the coming centuries with an impetus and 
 glory impossible to conceive. 
 
 64 
 
IV. 
 
 SUCCESSES AND OPPORTU- 
 NITIES IN KOREA. 
 
 By REV. GEORGE HEBER JONES, Ph.D. 
 
 Twdnty-five: years ago Korea was an 
 unknown land. It had its place on the map, 
 but its coasts were unsurveyed, its rivers 
 unexplored and the names of its cities un- 
 known. No treaties with Christian nations 
 existed. No commerce brought wealth to 
 the people, no travelers visited the country. 
 And the outside world was equally un- 
 known to the Korean. He had heard of 
 the white man, and even seen a few speci- 
 mens of that race, most of whom he had 
 promptly killed and thrown to the dogs 
 
 S 65 
 
The; Asiatic Fipxds. 
 
 and ravens to eat. He had seen enough to 
 convince him that the white man was a 
 wild, thieving savage, whose language 
 sounded like the twittering of sparrows and 
 the chatterings of magpies, whose customs 
 and ideas were immoral and blasphemous, 
 whose costume and appearance was dia- 
 bolical, and whose religion was the sum of 
 all villainies. 
 
 This was the Korean's idea of the white 
 man, written in his laws and literature and 
 deep grained in his nature. Two short 
 decades ago America led the way in open- 
 ing up Korea diplomatically, and Christian 
 missions immediately followed to put to an 
 end forever such conditions as I have de- 
 scribed; and in the van commanding one 
 wing of the advance guard was our own 
 Methodist Church. Missionaries were sent 
 to found the work, and what a task con- 
 fronted them ! 
 
 They had to wrest from a pagan govern- 
 66. 
 
KOR^A. 
 
 merit and an antagonistic populace the right 
 to reside within the borders of the land, to 
 travel, study, teach, and convert; they had 
 to face the peril and danger of the plague 
 and pestilence, the sea, the mountains and 
 lonely places, the mob, robbers, wild beasts, 
 and savage men. Tliey had to master a 
 barbarous tongue and make it the servitor 
 of Christ, a language so perverse that one 
 has said he doubted if a man could speak 
 the truth with it. They had to stand firm 
 and unflinching amid the loneliness and 
 desolation of their situation. They did it. 
 They built over against the institutions of 
 heathenism the institutions of Christ. They 
 set up the altar of the true God in the midst 
 of the myriad altars of false gods; they 
 cried forth into the noise, confusion, and 
 babble of false ideas and wild superstitions 
 the eternal truth of God in Christ Jesus; 
 and in eighteen years the prejudices and 
 antagonism of ten millions of people three 
 
 67 
 
Th^ Asiatic Fiej.ds. 
 
 thousand years deep in their heathenism 
 have been conquered, and in their place 
 friendly relations established. I submit 
 that were this all we had to show it would 
 be enough for the first eighteen years 
 of labor. 
 
 Vantage Points Gained. 
 
 But not only have we secured for our- 
 selves the right to work, but a revolution 
 has been established in the thought and 
 attitude of the people toward Christ such 
 as has taken centuries to produce in other 
 lands. Christianity has been vindicated 
 from the base calumnies with which it was 
 slandered. The laws in the penal code 
 which denounce death to all who embrace 
 our religion have been rendered a dead let- 
 ter. From looking upon it as a religion fit 
 only for barbarians and savages, the lordly 
 Confucianist cries out in amazement, ''Your 
 Christ is as great as our Sage!" One of 
 
 68 
 
KORKA. 
 
 the most honored and ablest statesman of 
 Korea said to me : "Go on with your teach- 
 ing; Christianity is destined shortly to be 
 Korea's religion. For three hundred years 
 our land has not produced a really great 
 expounder or exemplifier of the Confu- 
 cian cult. We possess only the shadow 
 of it. We are a land without rehgion, 
 and Christianity must be accepted by 
 us." 
 
 It rests with us to say whether Chris- 
 tianity, when it is accepted by Korea, shall 
 be Roman and sacramental, or evangelical 
 and biblical in form. The attitude of the 
 people has changed. Though they perse- 
 cute and oppose our converts, they do it, 
 not because they think Christianity bad, but 
 because they look upon our converts as 
 traitors to their ancestors. They know 
 Christianity is good. They expect its final 
 triumph. Their attitude is one of antici- 
 pation. 
 
 69 
 
The: Asiatic Fie:i.ds. 
 
 The; Church Founde:d. 
 
 The foundations were laid when our 
 Lord Christ shed his blood on Calvary's 
 brow and opened to Koreans the gates of 
 life. They were laid when God's Spirit 
 moved his servants in America to send to 
 Korea the banner of the world-conquering 
 cross. In the human and temporal sense 
 they have been deeply, solemnly laid during 
 the past two decades. From among that 
 populace with many a Saul breathing out 
 threatenings and slaughter against Christ 
 there have come Pauls who have become 
 glorious workmen for Christ, building up 
 his kingdom throughout the Korean empire. 
 Fifteen years ago we reported our first 
 membership — thirty-eight converts. To- 
 day a host of seven thousand Methodists 
 are enrolled in our churches, eager, earnest, 
 and consecrated, and at their head stand 
 four ordained ministers of the Gospel. 
 
 70 
 
Kore:a. 
 
 The; Bible and Prayer Have the Right 
 OF Way. 
 
 The Korean Church is a Bible-loving 
 Church. Most of our male converts and a 
 large percentage of the women can read. I 
 once met an old man who had been con- 
 verted at the age of seventy-two years. 
 The frequent services through the week 
 did not satisfy him. His heart was so full 
 of love for God's word that he wished to 
 read it for himself. He was ignorant of 
 letters, yet at that advanced age this old 
 man learned to read in order that he might 
 be able to see for himself the glories of God 
 in his word. . Another old man named 
 Matthew Yi was known never to be without 
 a copy of the Bible in his hand, except 
 when eating or sleeping. Our people love 
 the Bible. 
 
 Wherever in the world you find the Bible 
 loved and honored, there you will find the 
 
 71 
 
Th5 Asiatic Fiki^ds. 
 
 family altar also, and so it is with the Ko- 
 rean. As a heathen he is, as Paul said of 
 the Athenians, ^'too religious." Before the 
 light of Christ dispels his darkness, he peo- 
 ples his home with specter demons. They 
 perch on the beams and nest in the ceiling 
 and walls ; they enshrine themselves in the 
 parlor, the kitchen, and the shed ; they hide 
 in the floor and the chimney. The Korean 
 without Christ spends his life amid these 
 death-shadows. 
 
 But the Christian Korean erects in his 
 home the family altar, and the darkness 
 and gloom vanish, the dead shadows 
 flee away, and in their train go many a 
 superstition, many a cruel practice. The 
 family altar stands for a Christian home, 
 and a Christian home means love, sympa- 
 thy, and cooperation. It means wife raised 
 from the position of a servant and toy to 
 that of a helpmeet and companion. It 
 means one wife and purity, not many wives 
 
 72 
 
Kore:a. 
 
 and debauchery. To-day in thousands of 
 homes in the valleys and on the hill-slopes 
 of Korea there are family altars where 
 husband and wife and children gather in 
 daily prayer for divine grace and guidance, 
 and a heavenly Shekinah shines forth and 
 changes a mud hut into a temple to the 
 only living and eternal God. 
 
 The; Kore;an Church an Active 
 Church. 
 
 From the very first the convert is more 
 than a church member, he is a worker for 
 Christ. He may be only an ignorant, un- 
 tutored, uncouth farmer, but he knows and 
 possesses something his neighbors have not, 
 and he presses it home on them. There is 
 an impulse within him to work for Christ. 
 His soul is energized with new and glorious 
 forces. He would not keep silent if he 
 could, and he could not if he would. His 
 heathen neighbors will not permit him to 
 
 7Z 
 
Th^ Asiatic Fii-i^ds. 
 
 remain inactive. From the day he pubHcly 
 renounces heathenism by burning his fe- 
 tiches and idols on the plot in front of his 
 house, he is a marked man. His neighbors 
 attack him and his new beliefs, and he 
 must defend them and prove their truth, 
 or surrender at discretion and go back to 
 heathenism. He is strengthened by this 
 process, and his testimony to his neighbors 
 backed up by a changed life is powerful, 
 because he speaks in the language and ideas 
 with which they are familiar. Thus 
 through this one man Christianity obtains a 
 foothold in some heathen village; a few 
 others join with this first convert ; they 
 grow in grace, knowledge, and numbers. 
 The first convert is recognized by the mis- 
 sionary as the class leader. Some baptisms 
 take place. By the time their numbers reach 
 twelve or fifteen families they put up a 
 building especially for worship. It is not 
 very beautiful in architecture or material. 
 
 74 
 
Kore:a. 
 
 Like the houses of the behevers, it may 
 have mud walls and thatched roofs and 
 paper windows, but it is their church ! And 
 I will tell you one thing about it. It is 
 always just a little better than the houses 
 of the converts. It is consecrated to God, 
 and here they worship, and who shall say it 
 is not as precious and beautiful in the eyes 
 of the all-seeing Father as the costliest fane 
 ever erected by the poured-out treasure of 
 Christendom ? 
 
 From an Ox to a Chicken. 
 
 And what is the result? Heathenism 
 vanishes away. Dr. Noble tells of a hamlet 
 of sixty families where we got a footing, 
 and in the course of a short time forty 
 families became Christians. Previously 
 they had a yearly sacrifice to the demons in 
 which an ox was offered. But this year 
 Christianity had made such inroads on the 
 numbers of the non-Christian populace that 
 
 75 
 
The: Asiatic Fiii:i.DS. 
 
 those who remained contented themselves 
 with offering a chicken to the gods ! Do 
 you ask me what is the result of our work ? 
 You see it in the fact that the sacrifices of 
 heathenism are dwindling from an ox to a 
 chicken. 
 
 The work in these villages is built up 
 and conserved by the native converts. 
 Never has there been a time in the history of 
 the w^ork in Korea when there have been 
 enough white men properly to shepherd 
 God's Church there. Our native converts 
 have done this as well as they could. They 
 have served without pay of any kind, work- 
 ing on their farms throughout the week like 
 the other Christians, but keeping the lamp 
 of God burning. 
 
 A Spirit-:^ii.i.ed Church. 
 
 Whence comes the power of these Ko- 
 rean farmers to stand firm against all the 
 forces that a trained and intellectual pagan- 
 
 7i> 
 
KORKA. 
 
 ism can bring to bear upon them? Whence 
 comes their power to overcome the false 
 ideas and debased practices in their own 
 hearts, their homes, and their hamlets? 
 Whence comes their power to meet and 
 vanquish the skilled intellectual forces of 
 Confucianism? Whence comes their power 
 to stand unflinching and triumphant amid 
 the fierce furnace fires of persecution ? One 
 answer alone there is. It is the Spirit of 
 God. 
 
 There is not a man in our Church that 
 has not suffered in his body, his goods, or 
 his soul because of Christ. Some have been 
 cast out in disgrace by relatives ; children 
 have been disinherited by parents, and par- 
 ents abandoned by children ; wives have 
 been divorced by husbands because of 
 Christ. Some have lost property and tem- 
 poral prosperity. Others have met cruel 
 beatings, even nigh unto death, for his 
 sake. 
 
 17 
 
The Asiatic Fie;i.ds. 
 
 The: Kore:an Church a Self-supporting 
 Church. 
 
 The Korean Church has made a magnifi- 
 cent record in self-support. It was to be 
 expected. A Bible-loving, active, vv^orking. 
 Spirit-filled, persecuted Church must do its 
 full limit in self-support. For every paid 
 helper we have, there are fifty volunteer 
 workers. Chapels are built, all running ex- 
 penses paid, visitation to outlying classes 
 maintained, and Christian literature bought 
 and distributed out of the funds of the na- 
 tive Church. It is a sight to see a worship- 
 ing congregation when the collection is 
 taken; rarely will a man allow the plate to 
 pass him without a gift. Beginning in 
 1894, when we had 221 members, our Ko- 
 rean Church has contributed 17,530 yen, or 
 over $8,000, for the work of the Lord. 
 How much this sum represents in God's 
 arithmetic I will not venture to estimate. 
 
 78 
 
Korea. 
 
 This is some little part of the story of 
 success in Korea. I will not speak of the 
 wide-spreading influence of our Church on 
 the national life and character, or of the 
 indirect successes of Christianity in the 
 world of Korean thought, but enough has 
 been said to show that opposing conditions 
 have been met and conquered, obstacles sur- 
 mounted, and problems solved. The Church 
 of Christ has been established with its foun- 
 dation deep in the bed rock of national 
 character. We are weathering all storms 
 of persecution and forging slowly ahead, in 
 spite of the fiercest gales blowing from the 
 pit. Our story is an uninterrupted tale of 
 progress and success. We have not met 
 with a reverse. 
 
 The: Opportunities oi? Christian Mis- 
 sions IN Korea. 
 
 Light begins to stream in on Korea's 
 darkness. The Eastern horizon is breaking 
 
 79 
 
Thk Asiatic Fields. 
 
 into smiles with the glory of a new day. 
 Christ has come, and Christ is the light of 
 the world. Fair indeed is the vision as we 
 look out upon Christ's triumphs in Korea. 
 But what a prospect greets us as we catch 
 a glimpse of the golden day of opportunity 
 in Korea ! 
 
 Territorially Korea lies at our feet. It 
 has been visited, explored, and mapped out 
 in its length and breadth. Every province 
 and the larger portion of the three hundred 
 and thirty-two prefectures which constitute 
 the empire have been visited and sown with 
 Christian literature, and in many of these 
 prefectures Christian converts reside and 
 work for the Master. The distribution and 
 location of Christ's forces in Korea consti- 
 tute an opportunity of the first order. 
 
 There is an utter absence of many things 
 which serve in other lands as serious com- 
 petitors with Christianity. In Korea 
 Christianity is the only thing in sight. No 
 
 80 
 
Korea. 
 
 new political life, calling the people to con- 
 sider questions of communal and national 
 welfare, with the excitement incidental to 
 local and other elections, breaks in on the 
 monotony of their life. No expanding 
 military and naval development appeals to 
 their national pride. No public school sys- 
 tem with its multitudes of children and 
 youth preparing themselves to take a wor- 
 thy part in the affairs of life gives 
 hope for the future. No large industrial 
 and commercial enterprises under native 
 control promise relief to the widespread 
 poverty of the Korean people. And last 
 and most important of all, the black curse 
 of a skeptical, infidel, impure literature has 
 not yet found expression in the Korean 
 language. As far as the life of the populace 
 is concerned, it remains unchanged and un- 
 disturbed. The only new thing that breaks 
 in on Korean quietude is Christianity. It 
 alone speaks of a promise of improvement 
 6 8i 
 
The Asiatic Fiei^ds. 
 
 in communal and national conditions ; it 
 alone affords a hope of safety and security 
 to the nation; it alone has an organized 
 school system. The two secular newspapers 
 published under native auspices are favor- 
 able to Christianity. The only weekly 
 published in the land is the organ of the 
 Presbyterian Church. The only magazine 
 published is the organ of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. The only literature 
 to-day is that which comes forth from 
 Christian sources. The two best selling 
 books in Korea are the Christian Bible and 
 hymn book. Therefore, I repeat it, Chris- 
 tianity is the only thing in sight. From the 
 vantage point of this opportunity we can 
 reach and influence the nation with excep- 
 tional power. How long this will continue 
 to be the case wc cannot say, for the devil 
 is not yet dead. But while the opportunity 
 lasts it should be improved to the utmost 
 
 limit of possibility. 
 
 82 
 
Kore:a. 
 
 The; Conditions Among the Peopi^e: at 
 Large: an Opportunity. 
 
 Tourists tell us that two things in Korea 
 strike them very forcibly : The pitiable 
 condition to which the people have been 
 reduced, and the amazing success of Chris- 
 tian missions. Korea's need, nor man, nor 
 angel, nor seraph can adequately describe. 
 Only the heart of the Eternal, who, from 
 the depths of his holiness measures so accu- 
 rately all moral conditions, can know the 
 depth of Korea's ruin and desolation. Op- 
 pression is there in ''cruel, man-destroying 
 power, that ravages kingdoms and lays em- 
 pires waste and in pitiless wantonness thins 
 states of half their people and gives up the 
 rest to want." Oppression blights every 
 budding promise of good. Vice is there 
 paralyzing and destroying the life of 
 the people. The typical Korean looks 
 out on the world with the sense that 
 
 83 
 
The: Asiatic Fieilds. 
 
 the best things are gone. Purity and 
 innocence, hope, Hfe, and God are gone; 
 and gone are those things which make for 
 righteousness and truth, that in Christian 
 lands are enjoyed in such lavish bounty 
 that many ignore and even trample them 
 under feet. Unknown are those priceless 
 privileges of the Christian Church and her 
 services and influences that pervade the 
 air we breathe, that follow us from cradle 
 to grave. The Korean stands and searches 
 far and wide over the desolate, gloomy 
 wastes of his civilization for all these things, 
 but they are gone. 
 
 A short time ago I was walking with a 
 young Korean man, a patriot concerned 
 for the welfare of his people. He said to 
 me: "We look out into the future and see 
 no ray of light. The night about us is deep 
 and dark and cold. The hearts of my peo- 
 ple are frost-bitten." Aye ! that is it, frost- 
 bitten by the dark, arctic night of heathen- 
 
 84 
 
KOR^A. 
 
 ism ! Into conditions like these comes the 
 story of the Gospel with its promise of help, 
 of better things, of a brighter day. Christ 
 has seen the opportunity these conditions 
 offer, and he is there in Korea to-day : 
 sometimes beside the lonely missionary, 
 cheering and strengthening him; some- 
 times with a persecuted Christian in his 
 home, in prison, or in the death cell, even 
 as he was present with his saints of old in 
 the seven times heated fiery furnace ; again, 
 in the depths of the conflict with the forces 
 of sin and darkness. We behold his form, 
 we see his pierced hand as it beckons us on 
 to higher endeavor and nobler achievement. 
 Shall we lag behind? God forbid it! 
 
 Opportunities in the: Native Church. 
 
 Equal with these opportunities that 
 promise such large reward is the opportu- 
 nity which lies before us in the native 
 Church. Here we have a compact, enthu- 
 
 85 
 
The: Asiatic Fiklds. 
 
 slastic, earnest body of men. Soldiers they 
 are in their frame of mind where the forces 
 of sin are concerned, filled with the Spirit 
 of God, purified by persecution and armed 
 with divine truth. They ask, first of all, 
 that we shall give to them in its entirety 
 that sacred body of truth which has come 
 down to us from our fathers, and which 
 we are proud to pass on to other nations 
 and coming generations. The Korean 
 Christians desire to be more than Christians 
 in name, they call for and demand the sub- 
 stance of Christianity. They desire to be 
 saved from the fate that overtook Coptic 
 and Abyssinian Christianity. The supreme 
 obligation, the great task which confronts 
 us to-day, recognized no less fully by the 
 native Church than by the missionaries, 
 is the great need of indoctrination. These 
 men who have come from the rice swamps 
 and barley fields, from the merchants' 
 
 thoroughfares and the teacher's mat de- 
 
 86 
 
KOREJA. 
 
 mand that we should teach them, drill them, 
 give them Christianity in its entirety. 
 
 And they ask us for leadership. In our 
 native Church race prejudice has not as 
 yet lifted its ugly head. The native Chris- 
 tians respect and honor their white broth- 
 ers. They look upon them as carrying in 
 themselves the highest attainments and the 
 largest amount of force possible from 
 Christian experience. They believe in them 
 as captains and leaders, and for this gener- 
 ation and the generation to come they turn 
 their eyes and their hearts lovingly and ex- 
 pectingly to the overflowing camps of 
 Christendom in search for that consecrated 
 leadership which shall guide them to final 
 and complete triumph in their land. They 
 are full of courage; there is no intrench- 
 ment of the foe they will hesitate to storm; 
 there is no point in the conflict so perilous 
 but they will gladly thrust themselves into 
 it in order to pluck victory for Jesus Christ. 
 
 87 
 
The; Asiatic Fidi^ds. 
 
 Give them, then, what they need in this 
 their day of desire, reaHzing that upon our 
 action at this time hangs the whole future 
 of the Church of Korea. 
 
 Plea i^or a Strong Advance. 
 
 The golden day of God's opportunity is 
 upon us in Korea. Let us not sin it away 
 in idleness. 
 
 The busy world shoves angrily aside 
 
 The man who stands with arms akimbo set 
 
 Until occasion tell him what to do. 
 
 And he who waits to have his task marked out 
 
 Shall die and leave his errand unfulfilled. 
 
 I plead on behalf of ten millions of souls 
 now slowly beginning to turn their eyes to 
 "the Light of the world." I plead on behalf 
 of a youthful Church, eager, curious, anx- 
 ious, ready for the fray, and asking only 
 for sufficient and efficient leadership. I 
 plead that our great Church may begin 
 seriously, and in a manner commensurate 
 
 88 
 
Korea. 
 
 with her vast resources, the work of evan- 
 gelizing Korea. For I dare afifirm that, 
 moving forward from the vantage ground 
 of past success, along the lines of our mag- 
 nificent opportunities, the end is already 
 looming in sight on the far horizon of 
 Korea. 
 
 89 
 
V. 
 
 SUCCESSES AND OPPORTU- 
 NITIES IN JAPAN. 
 
 By REV. DAVID S. SPENCER, D.D. 
 
 The: first Protestant missionaries entered 
 Japan in 1859. Their first convert received 
 baptism in October, 1864, but so hostile was 
 the government to the foreigner and his 
 hated yasu-kyo that up to 1873 but some 
 eleven Japanese had received baptism into 
 the Protestant faith. 
 
 These were times of suspicion and dark 
 deeds. Notice-boards prohibiting faith in 
 Christianity and offering rewards for ex- 
 posing native believers were posted by the 
 government in public places. For the mis- 
 sionary to leave his home at night was posi- 
 
 90 
 
Japan. 
 
 lively unsafe. While policemen guarded his 
 person and property, because of the govern- 
 ment's treaty obligations, her secret detect- 
 ives dogged his footsteps. If the common 
 people were inclined to receive the foreigner, 
 his religion, his schools, the attitude of their 
 leaders forbade it. It needed a dozen years 
 to allay suspicion, to show the difference 
 between Protestantism and Romanism, and 
 to prepare the way for any direct work. 
 
 These are briefly the conditions our he- 
 roic pioneer missionaries met when they or- 
 ganized our Methodist Episcopal Mission, 
 August 8, 1873. Without a dwelling house, 
 a church, or a native convert, with no 
 knowledge of the language, no Christian 
 literature, no helps of any kind; but with 
 God above, the love of Christ in their hearts, 
 a praying Church behind them, and a hand- 
 ful of sympathetic missionaries like them- 
 selves about them, they began to lay the 
 foundation of our Church in that land. 
 
 9I) 
 
The: Asiatic Fiei^ds. 
 
 Successes of Thirty Years. 
 
 What are the successes of thirty years 
 of toil? We now have sixty native 
 ordained ministers, trained in our schools, 
 loyal to our cause, earnest, intelligent, 
 self-sacrificing, able to double or quad- 
 ruple their income any day by taking 
 secular work or government positions; as 
 preachers and evangelists second to none in 
 any Church. We have thirty-four under- 
 graduate men coming on to help them. We 
 have fifty-three Bible women who labor for 
 the saving of the women of Japan. There 
 are seventy-seven church buildings which 
 invite our people to worship, and we reg- 
 ularly preach the Gospel in 132 places. God 
 has given us 7,000 Church members. We 
 gather 7,000 children in 145 Sunday 
 schools, and those children are the hope of 
 the Church. Our boarding schools number 
 eleven, with 1,700 young men and women in 
 
 92 
 
Japan. 
 
 them, about eighty per cent of whom be- 
 come Christians before they leave our halls, 
 and already the children of our graduates 
 are coming back to our schools. Our Pub- 
 lishing House last year sent out 700,000 vol- 
 umes of books and tracts, or 10,000,000 
 pages of Christian literature, all over the 
 land. We have seven self-supporting 
 churches, and last year our people gave 4.30 
 yen ($2.15) a member for self-support, 
 which, considering the circumstances of the 
 givers, is not excelled by the Methodists of 
 these United States. While Methodism en- 
 tered the field the last of the five largest 
 families of Protestantism, it leads them all 
 in self-support and in membership. 
 
 This is a very brief statistical putting of 
 our success as a Church, but it by no means 
 tells all the truth. The broader influences 
 of Christian civilization upon the Japanese 
 nation, in which the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church has borne a worthy part, must never 
 
 93 
 
The Asiatic Fie:i,ds. 
 
 be forgotten. Instead of the notice-boards 
 which in the beginning forbade the Japanese 
 to beheve in Christianity, the Twenty-fifth 
 Article of the national constitution now 
 guarantees to every Japanese subject the 
 enjoyment of freedom of religious belief. 
 Then the Christian religion was a hated and 
 condemned foreign creed, an alien and ille- 
 gal ; now Christianity has the same legal 
 status as Buddhism, and is protected by the 
 highest law of the empire. 
 
 For long years the question of the 
 Church's property in Japan was one of se- 
 rious concern, as there were no provisions 
 by which a satisfactory title to such prop- 
 erty could be had in the name of the Church, 
 or of a foreign person, company or corpora- 
 tion ; now the Church property may be held 
 under legal provisions as safe as the empire 
 itself. 
 
 Our Mission schools have long labored 
 under great embarrassment, partly because 
 
 94 
 
Japan. 
 
 they were Christian, partly because they 
 were private schools rather than a part of 
 the government school system ; but recently 
 the chief hindrances have been removed. 
 
 Con^idknce: Re:stori:d. 
 
 Suspicion has given place to confidence, 
 and it has come to pass that the men most 
 largely trusted are the Christian men. The 
 president in the lower house in the Diet, 
 thrice chosen, is a Christian man, and a 
 dozen or fifteen of its most influential mem- 
 bers are well-known followers of Christ. 
 This is about fifty times the due representa- 
 tion of the Christians proportionate to mem- 
 bers. But we now have Christian ministers 
 in the Cabinet, Christian admirals in the 
 navy, Christian generals in the army, Chris- 
 tian justices upon the supreme bench. Chris- 
 tian men heading important commercial en- 
 terprises ; and we ought to thank God that 
 the profession of Christianity is no longer 
 
 95 
 
The; Asiatic Fie:i,ds. 
 
 a bar to a man's attainment of the highest 
 positions in the empire. 
 
 Humanitarian Se;rvice:. 
 
 The followers of Buddha and Confucius 
 mumbled pretty ethical phrases about kind- 
 ness and charity, and left the suffering to 
 bear their sorrows as best they might; but 
 the Christians are dotting the land with 
 hospitals, orphanages, asylums, homes for 
 the friendless and for ex-convicts, and the 
 tears of joy and gratitude that flow from 
 the relieved are as incense wafted to heaven. 
 Perhaps in nothing has Christianity mani- 
 fested its power over the fiery Japanese 
 spirit more completely than when it has 
 tamed the samurai, or member of the old 
 military class, and sent him out as a good 
 Samaritan to establish humanitarian insti- 
 tutions. 
 
 Woman, too, has felt mightily the touch 
 of Christian uplift. Confucius had no place 
 
 96 
 
Japan. 
 
 for her. From many Buddhist temples and 
 sacred mountains she is excluded. She could 
 claim no legal standing and was a mere 
 chattel, to be disposed of as caprice might 
 dictate. But Christianity has made concu- 
 binage a disgrace ; the civil code, based upon 
 the Code Napoleon, or Christian law, gives 
 to woman her legal status, guards her rights 
 of person and property, and makes possible 
 her independent existence. 
 
 The hardest blow yet struck against the 
 damnable system of licensed prostitution, 
 the curse of Japan, was struck by a Chris- 
 tian missionary, a Methodist, and if the 
 Christians are supported in their effort I 
 undertake to say that the day is not distant 
 when they will close every brothel in the 
 land. 
 
 Deve:i.oping Christian Skntimdnt. 
 
 But the case does not rest here. The in- 
 fluence of Christian sentiment in society has 
 7 97 
 
The Asiatic Fie:i.ds. 
 
 made a difference in the dealings of man 
 with man. Not a judge upon the bench but 
 has felt his moral backbone stiffen by the 
 presence of Christian sentiment among the 
 people, and even in the press. 
 
 Japan has recently set the world an exam- 
 ple by imprisoning more than one hundred 
 of her leading citizens, some of them men 
 occupying high positions in her educational 
 system, because they were found guilty of 
 accepting petty bribes from the publishers 
 of text-books as payment for their favorable 
 opinions on those books. While American 
 cities sit complacently to watch their politi- 
 cians steal through the exploiting of more 
 than one franchise, the city of Tokyo tries, 
 convicts, and imprisons some of her leading 
 officials because they cheated in the quality 
 of iron pipes put into her water system. 
 
 I do not pretend to assert that Japanese 
 civilization is morally equal to that of Amer- 
 ica at all points — not by any means. Nor 
 
 98 
 
Japan. 
 
 would I have you lose sight of the fact that 
 the missionaries to that country have not 
 been asleep for thirty years. No statistics 
 can picture to the mind the widespread in- 
 fluence of Christian sentiment already man- 
 ifest in this land so recently heathen, and 
 this influence is large and out of all propor- 
 tion to the numbers of those enrolled as 
 Christians. 
 
 Re:vision o^ Tri:atie:s and Resui^ts. 
 
 The revision of the treaties lifted from 
 Japan a burden which was fast coming to be 
 unbearable. This is the political side of the 
 matter. From the Church's standpoint, it 
 burst from the missionary his traveling pass- 
 port fetters and set him free to roam at 
 will, up and down the empire, preaching 
 Jesus and the resurrection; it changed the 
 feelings of the government and people to- 
 ward the foreigner and his creed; it stirred 
 the native evangelist with a desire to see the 
 
 99 . ' 
 
The: Asiatic Fiki^ds. 
 
 people converted ; it gave the patriot an ad- 
 ditional reason for wishing to make his 
 country worthy to march with the Christian 
 nations of the Occident; and thus it threw 
 wide open the doors for Christian propa- 
 gandism. Then came the Anglo- Japanese 
 alliance, an event which has imposed upon 
 Japan still greater obligations and induce- 
 ments to measure up to her best in every 
 way. 
 
 Failurii; 01^ the: Moral System. 
 
 And this apparently leads to another line 
 of thought. From the early years of the 
 Meiji era Japan had depended upon general 
 education to solve her difficulties and lift 
 her into a stable national life. In pursuance 
 of this policy she has developed her school 
 system to a state of great efficiency. With 
 vehement determination religion has been 
 divorced from her schools. But it became 
 clear ''that education pure and simple had 
 
 100 
 
Japan. 
 
 not bettered the morals of Japan," and this 
 "led the emperor in 1890 to issue his Impe- 
 rial Rescript on Morals in Education. But 
 as the Rescript supplies no power to live 
 the life it recommends it becomes only a 
 moralization." The young man of the gov- 
 ernment schools have become skeptical to 
 an alarming extent. Disgusted with the 
 general and moral degradation of the 
 priesthood, cut loose from the religion of 
 their fathers, and thrust into social, political, 
 industrial, and commercial conditions all 
 new to them, these young men are religious- 
 ly and morally adrift. The waves of skep- 
 ticism, rationalism, and agnosticism have 
 been rolling over Japan, and by many lead- 
 ing men this failure of their moral system 
 is keenly felt and deeply lamented. Of the 
 students in Japanese colleges but one in 
 seventy is a Christian communicant; of the 
 colleges of the United States and Canada 
 one out of every two is a communicant. 
 
 lOI 
 
The: Asiatic FiEi^ds. 
 
 NoTABI.e; WiTNKSSKS. 
 
 Hence Baron Alaejima, an ex-cabinet of- 
 ficer, has recently said: "I firmly believe 
 we must have religion at the basis of our 
 national and personal welfare. No matter 
 how large an army or navy we may have, 
 unless we have righteousness at the founda- 
 tion of our national existence we shall fall 
 short of the highest success. I do not hesi- 
 tate to say that we must rely upon religion 
 for our highest welfare. And when I look 
 about me to see what religion we may best 
 rely upon, I am convinced that the religion 
 of Christ is the most full of strength and 
 promise for the nation." 
 
 Count Okuma, ex-premier, laments the 
 loss of moral fiber, and says : "The efforts 
 which Christians are making to supply to 
 the country a high standard of conduct are 
 welcomed by all right-thinking people. As 
 you read your Bible you may think it is 
 
 102 
 
Japan. 
 
 antiquated, out of date. The words it con- 
 tains may so appear, but the noble Hfe 
 which it holds up to admiration is some- 
 thing that will never be out of date, how- 
 ever much the world may progress. Live 
 and preach this life, and you will supply to 
 the nation just what it needs at the present 
 juncture." 
 
 The: Church's Opportunity. 
 
 This Is the Church's opportunity in Japan. 
 Now while her leading men stand favorable 
 to the inculcation of Christian principles; 
 while the minds of the people are open to 
 receive the truth; now, when God has, 
 through a victorious war, through im- 
 proved international relations, and through 
 the failure of their moral system, flung wide 
 open the doors, is the Church's supreme 
 opportunity. 
 
 We should seize this opportunity first 
 
 through increased direct evangelistic work. 
 
 103 
 
The: Asiatic Fie:IvDS. 
 
 This is the Church's first and greatest busi- 
 ness, to preach the Gospel to the forty-seven 
 millions of Japan ; and to this supreme duty 
 all other agencies should be subordinated. 
 To preach that "Gospel in the language of 
 the people is the missionary's highest joy. 
 But to do this we must have more men and 
 more money. 
 
 Our present force all over the field is 
 v^orking to the danger point. Our Mission 
 has not been so depleted in ten years as at 
 present. One of our old stations, Nagoya, 
 fourth city in the empire, has stood five 
 years without an American male missionary. 
 The first and greatest need is for young 
 men, the best from the schools, who shall 
 take the field, acquire the language, and be 
 ready for leadership to take the places of 
 the falling pioneers. Then we need money 
 for native preachers ; not a sudden large in- 
 crease, so as to demoralize self-support, but 
 money especially for new work. Millions 
 
 104 
 
Japan. 
 
 upon millions of the people have never 
 heard of Christ. Their minds are open. 
 They await something new. Of religion 
 they have enough, but the Gospel famine is 
 something awful to behold. Why may not 
 Japan have the Gospel now? Is this ex- 
 cessive asking for a land where only one in 
 one thousand of the population is a Church 
 member, where the heathen temples still 
 outnumber the Protestant communicants, 
 and where the people crowd about us at the 
 rate of three hundred per square mile, while 
 the United States has but twenty-six and 
 China ninety-six to the square mile? 
 
 Christian Schooi.s. 
 
 We should seize this opportunity through 
 Christian schools. These schools from the 
 first have been both the entering wedge and 
 a source of strength. The Japanese are a 
 reading people. Eighty-one and one half 
 per cent of the school population are ac- 
 
 105 
 
The: Asiatic Fii^lds. 
 
 tually in the schools. The daily papers 
 from the morning press fall like snowflakes 
 over the land. The selection of books 
 found upon the shelves of bookstores in 
 Tokyo compares favorably with those of 
 London, Paris, New York, Philadelphia, or 
 even Boston. The commercial value of the 
 English language is known, and it is a re- 
 quired study in the schools of the country, 
 where the children are learning to think in 
 English. Even the jinrikisha coolies often 
 £pend their waiting moments in studying 
 an English reader. But the government 
 schools are nonreligious, agnostic, and often 
 antichristian. 
 
 Reasons for Christian Schools. 
 
 We must have the Christian schools for 
 our Christian constituency, for the prepara- 
 tion of our ministry, and for the many who 
 choose to commit their sons and daughters 
 to Christian rather than to the government 
 
 io6 
 
Japan. 
 
 schools of skepticism and loose morals. Yet 
 not one of our eleven schools but needs 
 immediate financial help. For years the 
 Church's gifts have been so meager that we 
 could neither rear new buildings nor repair 
 the old. Our college building, wrecked by 
 the great earthquake of 1894, has never 
 yet been replaced. The Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church has put millions into the great 
 Church schools at home, and we are glad. 
 If we had $20,000 for Aoyama we could 
 replace our buildings and make room for 
 students enough to render the school self- 
 supporting. 
 
 And the results justify the expenditure. 
 Our graduates hold high positions in 
 Church and State, manage the great com- 
 mercial companies, and serve in positions 
 of highest trust at home and abroad. An 
 Aoyama man won honors in English Litera- 
 ture this year at the University of Chicago. 
 An Aoyama and later a Syracuse man heads 
 
 107 
 
The: Asiatic Fields. 
 
 the banking system of Korea. These are 
 Christian men, and with proper support 
 we can continue to fill posts of honor and 
 power with Christian men and women who 
 cannot be bought. 
 
 A Christian Press. 
 
 We must seize this opportunity through 
 a Christian press. Here Methodism has 
 unique opportunities in Japan. Not only 
 does the national thirst for reading urge 
 us on, but other Protestant denominations, 
 recognizing us as having a sort of right of 
 way through priority in opening this branch 
 of work, patronize our press and deal large- 
 ly through our Publishing House. The 
 Sunday school literature for those Churches 
 is furnished by us, and we are printing an 
 edition of the Union Hymnal for all Prot- 
 estantism. Many government offices and 
 libraries intrust us with large orders. But 
 
 we are not keeping up with the demand and 
 
 io8 
 
Japan. 
 
 cannot. Mr. Cowen, our hard-working 
 agent, is seriously overtaxed. Our present 
 plant is quite inadequate. We need better 
 workmen, better machinery, better build- 
 ings. One native church, seeing the need, 
 has raised 10,000 yen toward a building for 
 its use and Publishing House combined, a 
 building which shall be to all Japanese 
 Methodism what the Methodist Book Con- 
 cern in New York was to early American 
 Methodism. We need $25,000 at once to 
 enable us to hold the position already won. 
 If we do not enlarge, our co-laborers of 
 other Churches will feel compelled to occupy 
 the ground. Must we lose this golden op- 
 portunity, this chance to supply 47,000,000 
 people with Christian literature? Not un- 
 less Methodism has lost her hold on God! 
 Give us a united Methodism for Japan: 
 not seven sickly theological schools, but one 
 good one; not a half-dozen sickly colleges, 
 but one good one with feeders thereto; not 
 
 109 
 
The; Asiatic Fie:i,ds. 
 
 two or three attempts at publishing, doomed 
 to faikire from the start, but one powerful 
 press run for Christ and his kingdom. Stop 
 playing with the question of episcopal su- 
 pervision of our foreign fields, and give 
 us one of our best general superintendents 
 for Japan and Korea, with episcopal resi- 
 dence for four years at a time in Tokyo, 
 and others for China — large, princely 
 men, prophets, men of faith — and help us 
 to capture whole empires for Christ. 
 
 Japan and the: Orie:nt. 
 
 In saving Japan you save the Orient. 
 Japan is already in practical control of 
 Korea. She owns strategic railroads, tele- 
 graph lines, banks, and large commercial 
 interests. Japan is sending hundreds of her 
 picked men into China. They are reorgan- 
 izing her army; are advisers to her gov- 
 ernment; are police organizers and teach- 
 ers; are putting her schools into shape; 
 
 no 
 
Japan. 
 
 are heads of business enterprise; are draft- 
 ing her new code of civil law ; are managing 
 her Imperial University. Little Japan lead- 
 ing old China ! Why, two thousand Chinese 
 students are in the schools of Tokyo, and 
 among them are the sons of Chinese nobles ; 
 and of these students more than a hundred 
 are Chinese girls. Over one hundred Chi- 
 nese noncommissioned military officers are 
 in Japanese barracks getting their training 
 for war. And, if these Chinese students 
 and these Japanese can be Christianized, 
 what does this mean to the Orient? Re- 
 member the trumpet call of Bishop Moore, 
 "As Japan goes so goes the Orient." 
 
 Japan and Russia. 
 
 I would help Japan save China. I would 
 
 help her build a wall so high and strong 
 
 that the Russian bear could neither scale 
 
 it nor crawl through it; for be it known 
 
 unto you that wherever that bear places his 
 
 III 
 
Th^ Asiatic Fiei^ds. 
 
 paw there is an end to Protestant missions 
 and ultimately to American commerce. 
 
 O that the Church of God would grasp 
 her opportunity in the Orient! 
 
 •' What have I thought of His work so dear ? 
 What have I planned for his kingdom here ? 
 What have I given of the wealth he gave ? 
 What have I learned of his power to save ? 
 What have I done that the world may see 
 What Jesus did when he died for me ?" 
 112 
 
Princeton Theoloqical Seminanf Libraries 
 
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