Finally one day, a friend noticed them, took them down, all grimy with dust, and asked what they were and whence they came. The owner replied that he had never read them, but that they were books containing a new doctrine taught by foreigners in Seoul. Dr. Cho’s curiosity was aroused, he borrowed, took them home and fell to reading with more and more avidity the further he proceeded. I would not give up the priceless heritage of Christian ancestry, the struggles, prayers and victories of godly forefathers, and all that Christian training from one generation to another for centuries means, but yet I would give much to have been able once to read the four gospels as that heathen read them, with no preconceived opinions, no discolorations of red, green or even blue theological glasses, no criticisms or commentaries of “Worldly Wisemen,” or bigoted fanatics, reading their own ideas between the lines, but with an absolutely unbiased mind so as to be able to receive that wonderful revelation as a sweet glad surprise; sentence after sentence, truth after truth blooming into sudden glory, where the darkness of ignorance had reigned.
One almost envies that heathen his compensations. He received the word with joy, wondered and adored. Here was a man well read in the philosophical teachings, the empty husks of Confucianism and Buddhism, but who had never heard one word from any Christian teacher. Here was a mind free from prejudice, and this was the result of contact with God’s Word. He believed and accepted it for God’s truth with all his heart, and gave himself unreservedly to Christ, turning completely away from his old superstitions and systems of philosophy. Quickly the good news spread, not more from his glad telling of his new-found joy than from the wonderful change in the man himself.
Others also soon believed, and an appeal was sent to Seoul for some one to come and teach them more, lest something should remain misunderstood, or unfulfilled of their dear Lord’s commands. But in Seoul, and elsewhere, workers were few, hands were reaching out from all directions for help, the Macedonian cry was ringing pathetically from many quarters, the harvest great, the laborers few. The Bible must be translated, work already started must be cared for and watched, in a word, there was no one who could go. Again and again came that call, and at last a letter which brought tears to our eyes. “Why,” said they, “will no one come to help us, is no one willing to teach us, have we so far sunk in sin that God will not allow us to have salvation?” Mr. Underwood started almost at once, with Dr. Avison, about one month after the promulgation of the laws for cutting the top-knots. The excitement had somewhat abated in the city, and the call from Koksan admitted of no delay. Making short stops along the road for medical and evangelistic work, going on foot, they reached Koksan about three weeks after leaving Seoul.
RUSSIAN LEGATION HOUSE. [PAGE 174]
INDEPENDENCE ARCH. PAGE [38]
They found a little company of earnest simple-hearted believers, who had thrown away their idols, ceased their ancestor worship, and were in all things, as far as they knew, obeying the Lord. But “the washing rite,” as baptism was translated, puzzled them. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” What then was this? They pondered and studied. God showed them it was in some way a sign of washing from sin, and when after long waiting, no teacher came, they agreed that each going to his own home should wash himself in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, praying for himself and his brethren, that if in anything they had sinned in this rite, God would forgive them. And so the missionaries found them, and though for the sake of due order they were baptized in the prescribed way, it was felt that in God’s sight it had already been done.
When for the first time they all sat down to commemorate the Lord’s death in the service of bread and wine, there was not a dry eye in the room. Tears streamed from the face of Dr. Cho, and later one of his neighbors said, when speaking in an experience meeting, “Old Cho, known as ‘hard-hearted Cho,’ who as a boy never uttered a cry when his father flogged him, who never wept when he laid his aged mother in the grave, whose eyes never moistened when his beloved wife died, or when he buried his eldest son, on whose cheek man never saw a tear, Cho weeps. What miracle has brought tears to his eyes?”
While Dr. Avison and Mr. Underwood were in Koksan, wondering and worshiping over the proofs of how God blesses his word, applied to simple hearts, startling things were taking place in Seoul. The king, who had now been four months helpless in the hands of his enemies, suddenly made good his escape to the Russian legation!