Page:A modern pioneer in Korea-Henry G. Appenzeller-by William Elliot Griffis.djvu/15

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Preface

APPENZELLER of Korea built himself as a living stone into Christian Cho-sen. The coming of a live, typical, American Christian in 1885, into the mysterious secrecy of an inhospitable hermit kingdom, the abode of cruelty, oppression, mental darkness, ignorance and disease, was like an invincible sunbeam. Bold as a lion, tender as a woman, aflame with zeal for the Master, yet able to work and live with all sorts and conditions of men, he won steady success. As traveller, explorer, teacher, organiser, evangelist and Bible translator, his labors were manifold, while his temper was ever sweet. His seventeen years of service were crowned with success. His greatness in the hour of death tallied with the unselfish victories of his life. He died while saving others.

It is no pious panegyric that his friend and correspondent, who knew him from the time of his arrival in Korea, has tried to write; but, against a background of reality, to show what Appenzeller and his fellow workers under God achieved. Appenzeller formed Korea in pagan barbarism. He left the Land of Morning Calm worthy of its name, full of hope, promise and attainment. He lived

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