The effect of this was what might have been expected.  “They compel us to learn Japanese,” said one little miss, sagely.  “That does not matter.  We are now able to understand what they say.  They cannot understand what we say.  All the better for us when the hour comes.”  On Independence Day the children, particularly in the Government schools, were found to be banded together and organized against Japan.  They had no fear in expressing their views and sought martyrdom.  Some of them won it.

The Japanese hoped much from the Chon-do Kyo, a powerful movement encouraged by the authorities because they thought that it would be a valuable counteractive to Christianity.  Its leader was Son Pyung-hi, an old Korean friend of Japan.  As far back as 1894, when the Japanese arranged the Tong-hak Rebellion in Korea, to give them an excuse for provoking war with China, Son was one of their leading agents.  He believed that Western influence 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.