The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-03-16
1NTHE RELIGIOUS WORLD
What the Church Folk Are Thinking About ana
Doing. Religious News From
Elsewhere
Sunday SCHOOL, LESSON. CHILDREN'S TOPIC


Inexplicable all this may be upon
grounds of human reasoning, Yet no
man ready to accept credible teStl-
church's Pentecost repeated; also. II
would seem to be in order that, IKE
the of disciples Of old, they
may be equipped for the propaganda
Of their faith.
Persecution and Progress.
Easy times make soft characters.
The sturdieS Christians are those who
are called upon to stand and with
stand most for the sake OF the name.
The deepest prosperity n
DEVELOPMENT Of the Christian churcn
have been in the faceeof adverse con
djtions. Ne prize the truth for which
thew must suffer. Throughout all the
ages theprinciple has held true, even
as it did in Jerusalem. that the fidelity
of prosecuted Christians has meant
the substantial development OF the
church.
Opposition attract attention. 1t
makes Christianity a living issue.
| When men have to fight for their
faith they, n the world arouhu
around them, begin to realize IT'S Sig
nificance. Unbe,ievers are won. to a
! religion which is worth suffering for.
| The eternal appeal to the heroic has
| its effect. A young Philadelphia
churchman IA gone to India u he q
friar. or a Christian saduh, or 'hoiy
man." His method is to seek out the
pest camps; leper settlements, n
such like-and there give himself to
the service Of the lOWeSt,-tc n
men utterly beyond caste. He was
spat upon, revfled. despised by the ma
tiyeS. In a short time. however. they
discovered that persecution could not
| shake him. and that the more they
! reviled him the kindlier he became.
| This spirit broke their opposition. The
village that treated him worst soon
was beseeching him to remain with
them permanently as their holy
man" Already he has had Conspic
uous successes in the way Of converts
won to Christ.
Winning by witnessing.
Up in a village near Sendai. Japan,
His wife followed suit. StraightWay
such q transformation in his charac-
ter ensued that the Wohle community
took notice. The result was that the
entire community turned t. Christian
ity, either with respect and Difference.
or in open c01victiOn and conversion.
The apostolic method Of increasing the
Christian church was by the witness OF
the disciples. Every Christian test
fled to his faith. This he made his
thief business in life.
The same principle holds true in
Korea. There it is q common thing
for q man to move his home aid bus
mess from a Christian village. off &c
a nOn-Christian village. in Oruer that
he may there DE a witness and teacher
Of the Jesus way.
One of the missionary biSIloDS OF
| China was surprised TO have a request
from a theological student that he be
permitted TO go to a certain part OF
China, after his training had beer
completed. He explained his unusIa
700 tnC tx- Iy-i1 f1of w. -, q 49, la
Boxer days Of 1900 his family had
lived in that town. His Christian
father was called out by the Boxer
and given his choice of recdnrtng 81
perishing. When he remained faith
full he was cut down. Than his
mother was brought out INTO too roat
and shown the disnleInbered body. o
her husband, n hidden to burn in.
n before an Idol and to repudia1e
the Jesus religion. She told them tina
they could not make her deny :lel
Lord. Thereupon she. too, was slain
A young sister WIS put through tn
same ordeal. and remained faitnru
unto death. Now said the rOuns
student. Il want to go back to that vii
lage to represent Jesus Christ; / wal
my old .neighbors to know that Their,
is not a shred Of bitterness in ~,
heart. n that my supreme ambi
ton is there to live for the Master 70
whom my family died"
1t was glowing interest Of this sor
that made even the hordes Of ignoran
Chinese aware, after the futile perse
cution Of 1900. that Christianity is in
~eradicable in China. What the San
hedrin could not do in the way o
plotting out Christianity: what Rom
could not do; and what all the leaguet
powers of earth and darkness through
the centuries since have been unabl
to DO. is attested by the world-wid.
prevalence Of Christianity with me,
and women by the. myriads of legion,
who are willing to so to death for tn,
sake OF the name.
DURING 1908 fully ten thousand cit;
ems OF Ber!i1 gave notice to the AZ,
!norities h a they had abandoned tn
russian Protestant church. Thi
ra,;s;nn seems to be away from 81