Progress in Korea by Irwin H. Evans

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 20, 1911

Progress in Korea

By Irwin H. Evans

I. H. EVANS

KOREA is a very interesting field for evangelistic endeavor. Its people are in a state of transition. Cutting loose from superstitions hoary with age, they are now looking to the Occident to bring to them knowledge; to establish among them schools; and to give to them light and truth which will place them on vantage-ground with other peoples, and especially with Western civilization.

It is strange that no heathen people desire the Christian religion. They covet knowledge, money, power, and the influence which Christianity has brought to the world; but the one thing, the chief thing of all, the great producing cause, they neither desire nor aim to possess. Like all unregenerate hearts, these heathen people require the same effort, the same patient teaching, to bring them to accept Christ as their Saviour that sinners in the home lands of Europe and America require.

In every land, among every people, the

human heart seems blinded toward God; and to persuade sinners to accept salvation through faith in a crucified and risen Saviour, demands the same earnest efforts in preaching the living Word, and the same watering by the Holy Spirit. When the Word of God is preached in simplicity and with the power of the Holy Spirit, souls are born into the kingdom of God. Nothing will take the place of preaching the Word. Whatever has been substituted for this Word, whether eloquence, rhetoric, or philosophy, has failed. The Word of God, believed, lived, and preached by mortal man, is God's way of reaching hearts. Wherever this method is followed, results in souls accepting salvation are seen. When schools, sanitariums, and other agencies take the place of preaching the Word of God and personal work for souls, barrenness and failure follow the effort. Is it not time Seventh-day Adventists should closely follow the early church in the great work of preaching the gospel, making secondary, and using as auxiliaries, other agencies, rather than relying on these agencies to accomplish the work of reaching souls in darkness and sin?

A little over one year ago there was not an Adventist within many miles of the city of Seoul, the capital and metropolis of Korea. Some of our workers moved to that city, and began work. They did not start a school; they had no sanitarium; and they had but little literature. A cheap Korean house was rented, fitted up, and meetings were held. Little by little, this small beginning grew, until they had to enlarge their meeting-place, renting a better compound in the very heart of the most densely heathen portion of the city. Last October, when other denominations centered their efforts in Seoul to complete that splendid year's work for God, which probably was accompanied with more prayers and greater endeavors than had ever characterized Christianity before in the Hermit Kingdom, we were assigned this heathen portion of the city as our part to work.

Invitation cards were printed, and three thousand of them were circulated. An attendance was secured far beyond our ability to seat and accommodate. Every night the Word of God was preached, and souls were convicted and converted to God. Last January it was my privilege to meet with them. On the Sabbath eighty-one were present, though the thermometer registered about zero, and the people were poorly clad and shivering with the cold. Thirty women were seated in a little room 8 x 12 feet. It was my privilege to help organize a church of thirty-one members, with a full set of church officers. Many more will join the church when they have had more experience and have received baptism.

Pitiful pleas for some one to come and preach came from little companies in all directions. At Chemulpo ten persons had begun keeping the Sabbath, and were pleading for help. On Monday morning three brethren arrived, having walked fifty li, and faced a cold, pelting snow-storm. They begged that some one go home with them, and instruct a company of twenty who were keeping the Sabbath. It was impossible to send any one; for our foreign workers are already breaking under the work they are doing.

A special number of the Korean paper was printed, and the whole working force of Korea undertook to circulate a ten-thousand edition. The last report brought the news that the whole number had been sent out, and nearly all had been sold. The brethren showed skill in pushing this work. They divided the students into companies of four or five. With each of these companies a foreigner went out, working side by side with the students, and helping them succeed. The students took a thousand of these papers to sell. To some this may seem a small number, but this was the first time they had ever undertaken to sell papers. They did not know what they could do. Seldom have I ever attended a better missionary meeting than the one in the little mud school building on the hill at Soonan, when those boys and girls for the first time stepped to the front and endeavored to do work for God.

Dr. Riley Russell accompanied the youngest and most inexperienced students north as far as the Yalu River, selling in every town those gospel-filled messengers of truth. He wrote me that the thermometer went down to seven below zero; but they covered their territory, and sold their papers. The last report I had from him was that two precious souls had accepted the truth, and that others were interested.

Sister May Scott took the girl students, and they did work almost as good. Brethren R. C. Wangerin, C. L. Butterfield, and H. A. Oberg each took a company, and worked with the students selling the papers. The church-members caught the spirit, and joined in the campaign to sell the printed page.

Another special number will be published at the close of school, and they hope to sell twenty thousand copies.

We were compelled to buy a cylinder-press. The brethren had been using an old, rickety, George Washington lever proof-press, and it was impossible to do the work on it. The new press is now in operation, supplying a great need in the growing cause in Korea.

Seventy students were in attendance at the school, and we could have had a hundred had we been able to accommodate that number. Among them are some strong, sturdy fellows, who have responded splendidly to the training of the school under Dr. Russell. The doctor works with his boys in the field, sowing and reaping and tending crops. Contrary to all traditions in this part of Korea, the boys enter heartily into the work. They are paid by the hour, and charged with their board and schooling.

I had two weeks in Korea, and greatly enjoyed every hour. It is a thriving field. One feels here the spirit of labor. The very air is electrified with doing work for God. A score of openings demand help. It is not, “Where can we find an opening?” but the cry is, “What shall we do first? Which place shall we help next?” Brethren, pray for the work in Korea.

Shanghai, China.