The Land of Dawn Beauty
By Mrs. S. Roxana Wince
THE “Land of Dawn Beauty” is a name sometimes applied to Korea, that little peninsula that lies west of the Japan Sea, about which China and Japan were fighting such a short time ago. The name seems most appropriate just now, for the dawn of a glorious morning has indeed come to Korea. The Bible has reached her shores, and its divine rays are illuminating the minds of her people. It is but sixteen years since the first missions were established there, and now the churches and communities where some knowledge of the holy Word exists, can be counted by the thousands. The Koreans, from what C. C. Vinton, M. D., says in the Assembly Herald, seem to have practically no religious belief of their own “to be cast out before Christianity can enter.” And besides, unlike the Chinese, they are ready to welcome foreigners, and to adopt foreign customs as superior to their own. If to a village comes a Bible, or a New Testament, or a Christian book, or even a leaflet, or some native who has learned a little of the story of Jesus, the liveliest interest is at once awakened, a school of inquiry is started, and soon a little band is found meeting together for worship and study; and when a clearer knowledge is obtained, they send out messengers to carry the glad tidings of a Saviour’s love to other towns. It is marvelous. It is more like apostolic times, Mr. Vinton says, than anything the world has ever seen. If a little community is not satisfied with what it can learn from the means at hand, it sends messengers to the missionaries, though they must travel on foot a weary journey of many days’ duration. If no one can go back with these messengers, they remain until the truth can be learned. If a man is found who can return and become their teacher, they obligate themselves to support and “to obey all his instructions.” Every Korean convert is expected to be able to tell the truth to others. They do not wait for outside help or outside means. They build their own churches, support their own pastors,—where they have any,—and send out their own evangelists.—Mrs. S. Roxana Wince.