and in particular Western religion was inimical to his country,
and he hoped by the Tong-haks to drive them out.

As a result of his activities, he had to flee from Korea, and he did not
return until 1903. He became leader of the Chon-do Kyo, the Heavenly Way
Society, a body that tried to include the best of many religions and give
the benefits of Christian organization and fellowship without Christianity.
He had learned many things while in exile, and was now keen on reform and
education. Many of his old Tong-hak friends rallied around him, and the
Chon-do Kyo soon numbered considerably over a million members.

Son realized after a time that the Japanese were not the friends but the
enemies of his people. He made no violent protestations. He still
maintained seemingly good relations with them. But his organization was put
to work. His agents went over the country. Each adherent was called on to
give three spoonfuls of rice a day. Close on a million dollars was
accumulated. Most of this was afterwards seized by the Japanese.

The Chon-do Kyo and the native Christian leaders came together. The
Christian pastors had up to now kept their people in check. But the burden
was becoming intolerable. They gave the missionaries no inkling of what was
brewing. They did not wish to get them in trouble. Their real grief was
that their action would, they knew, make it harder for the Churches.

Two remarkable characters took the lead among the Christians, Pastor Kil
and Yi Sang-jai. Pastor Kil of Pyeng-yang was one of the oldest and most
famous Christians in Korea. He had become a leader in the early days,
facing death for his faith. A man of powerful brain, of fine character and
with the qualities of real leadership, he was looked up to by the people as
British Nonconformists a generation ago regarded Charles Spurgeon. In
recent years Kil had become almost blind, but continued his work.

I have already described in an earlier chapter how Yi Sang-jai, once
Secretary to the Legation at Washington, became a Christian while thrown
into prison for his political views. He was now a Y.M.C.A. leader, but he
was held in universal veneration by all men--Christian and non-Christian
alike--as a saint, as a man who walked with God and communed with Him.

When things seemed rapidly ripening, President Wilson made his famous
declaration of the rights of weaker nations. One sentence went round among
the Koreans, and its effect was electrical.