Korea continued her policy of jealously excluding all foreigners from entering the country, and only occasionally were a few books (printed in Chinese) sent over by the Jesuits from Peking. Not until 1784 was the work recommenced, and then it emanated from a purely Korean source. A young man called Piek-i, of great physical strength and intellectual keenness, heard that the father of a friend of his was going as ambassador to the court of China, and that his son was to accompany him. He therefore begged his friend, Senghoun-i, to use the opportunity to visit the foreigners there, in order to study their science and religion. Senghoun-i not only fulfilled his friend’s request, but was so deeply impressed by what he heard that he became a Christian and was baptized, after which he returned to his native land, carrying books, crosses, and pictures with him. He at once sent books to Piek-i, who retired into solitude to study them, and was soon convinced by pondering over the life of Christ of the truth of what he read. No sooner did Piek-i become a Christian than he set out to tell his friend, Senghoun-i, the good news. “The great God of Heaven,” he said, “has had pity on the millions of our fellow-countrymen, and He desires us to make them share in the benefits of the Redemption of the world. It is the command of God. We cannot be deaf to His call. We must spread this religion and evangelise the whole world.” How thoroughly these words express the feelings and action of the Korean Christians of the present day! Piek-i at once commenced the work of evangelisation, and success attended his labours; but close upon its heels came that persecution which was to continue down to the present day. There were no foreign missionaries to help or instruct the youthful disciples, and naturally they were unable to see the bearing of Christian teaching upon the customs to which they had always been accustomed. They evolved from their books a conception of the priesthood, and elected from their number a sort of religious hierarchy, which existed for some years undisturbed. When eventually they heard that this was not sanctioned by the authorities at Peking, and that they must utterly renounce the ancestor worship, which formed the basis of their former religious belief, and was so integral a part of the national life, it was a severe blow to them. They loyally obeyed, however, the mandate to destroy the ancestral tablets, and a storm of persecution swept over the church.