& Korean's ©ream ana BH)at Came of By Rev. E. M. CABLE THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH Rindge Literature Department 150 FIFTH AVENUE. NEW YORK 9 Korean’s Bream and Wtyat Came of 3t HERE is a man by the name of Mr. Kim-eung-soo living in a little village in the province of Whoang-hai-do, in the northwestern part of Korea. From a Korean point of view he is well-to-do, and he has considerable influence and authority in his own village and neighborhood. Late in the year 1901 he had occasion to go to Chemulpo on business. On returning home the boat in which he was being conveyed encountered a severe storm, and the little bark, unable to weather the heavy gale, was forced to take shelter at a village along the way. The storm continued to rage for three days, and Mr. Kim was com- pelled to take refuge in one of the village inns. At this place the event occurred that has changed his whole life. The first night Mr. Kim had a very strange dream, and like Pharaoh he awoke the next morning very much troubled in mind, but, unlike the king of old. he had no Joseph at hand to interpret the mys- terious vision. There were' other men in the inn that day, but none of them knew of the anxiety that gnawed away at Mr. Kim's heart. The strange dream was as follows: During the night Mr. Kim saw a man dressed in long black garments and wear- ing short hair approach him and hand him a book. This was very strange to Mr. Kim, because the national dress of the Korean is white, and they wear their hair long and tied up in a little knot on the top of their heads, and their books are very much different from the one the dream visitor had handed Mr. Kim. The Koreans are quick to attach evil interpretations to dreams and to let them pass as a mere matter of course, but this dream made a deep impression upon Mr. Kim and he wanted to know the interpretation. Mr. Kim had never met a missionary, read the Bible, or heard the Gospel story. He was a heathen living in all the darkness and hopelessness of idolatry. The day wore away all too slowly for Kim. Toward evening it happened that one of our Bible colporters was also driven to this same village by the storm, which had not ceased to spend its violence. For- tunately he went to the same inn in which Mr. Kim was staying. The two men met, but nothing was said until after they had eaten their evening meal, when the Bible colporter brought out his books and began to tell the wonderful story contained there- in and offered them for sale. The col- porter in the course of his preaching handed a copy of the New Testament to Mr. Kim, which the latter took and scanned carefully. Mr. Kim listened very attentively to all the colporter had to say, and then the re- membrance of his mysterious dream flashed upon him. He at once approached the col- porter and told him his dream. The col- porter listened to the strange story with intense interest, and when Mr. Kim had finished he replied: “O, that is easy to interpret. I am the man that you saw in your dream last night, and I have been sent by the Holy Spirit to speak to you and sell you this book. You must now be- come a Christian. The book you saw was the Bible.” This was a very striking coincidence. The Bible colporter corresponded to the man Mr. Kim had seen in his dream. He wore a long black coat and had his hair shorn. He presented Mr. Kim a copy of the New Testament in the same manner Mr. Kim had seen the man do in his dream. The dream was now no longer a mystery. Mr. Kim read his Bible, and after hear- ing the Gospel story from the lips of the colporter at once decided to become a Christian. He inquired concerning the Christian life and what he would be re- quired to do. Three days after this experience the storm had ceased and Mr. Kim again set out for home. He was not the old man any more, but the new Mr. Kim who had found Jesus in such a strange way. When Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/koreansdreamOOcabl Mr. Kim reached his own village again he at once related the wonderful story of his conversion to his neighbors and showed them the little volume which he had pur- chased. This strange proceeding caused no little excitement on the part of his neighbors. He burned the representations of evil spirits in his own house, and then went out into the village and destroyed the fetiches in a number of his neighbor’s houses. He began to preach in the village, and the peo- ple all gladly listened to him. He was a devoted student of the little volume he had purchased, and the neighbors saw that he possessed a peculiar power. His counte- nance revealed the secret, for it fairly beamed with the love of God. Later I visited this village, and I can- not express the joy I experienced in find- ing all the families of this village Chris- tians except one. Before I left the village I baptized Mr. Kim and twenty of his neighbors and received a large number of probationers into the church. This was the first time a missionary had ever visited Mr. Kim's village. We have at this place one of the most enterprising and thriving churches to be found on all the big circuit. I appointed Mr. Kim class leader here, and he has done a grand and noble work for God. It does my soul good to meet with him and hear him talk and pray. Think w r hat that little volume Mr. Kim saw r in his dream has done for Korea. A whole village converted which six months before was the abode of heathen darkness. Not only that, but the flame he kindled is spreading, and in time all the neighbor- ing villages will feel its influence and turn to Christ. Only the light of eternity will reveal what the Bible in the hands of Mr. Kim has done for the world. This is only one of many interesting examples of how the Bible reaches the hearts of the Koreans. Price, 60 cents per ioo copies.