The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-08-23
rz,;s Year in Asia" Matt. 1911
nv WILLIAM L. ELLIS.

awakening is one OF the DIG factors
in the life of today. Merchant, imam
all interested in it. Forces are astir
in the ancient East which portend
changes in the maps Of the world
and bid fair to profoundly alter the
present conditions Of society. Deepest
Of all the new movements IS that
which affects the religious faith OF
the Orient.
What a nation believes with respect
to religion is of far more significance
than what it buys and sells.
Broadly speaking, Asia is IN a state
Of religious unrest. It is aEoWedly dis
satisfied with the present condition OF
the ancient faiths. BY the testimony
of their own leaders, the educated
youth Of the Asiatic nations are slip
ping rapidly way from the faiths Of
their fathers into Indifference and
agnosticism. Only christianity and
Islam the two monOtheistic faiths,
show any real vitality. A great num-
Der of scholarly observers unite in de-
claring ithou reservation that one
of those two religions will dominate
Asia within a comparatively short
time.
OF the new deep, common
which may fairly be said to be domi-
mating Christendonl today the resOlu-
ton TO save Asia from the control of
Islam is surely one. Especially with
in the past FIVE years there has been a
growing conviction that the line
Of battle TIVE MohaTnm edism and
Christianity IS once more being drawn
for q 1lnaI Strugg1 for supremacy. Ihe
startling statement was made at the
Edinburs Conference that Islam is
making more converts than Christian
ity. The Jealous propaganda Of Mo
hammedanism has not been realized
by Cilristendom, which has been con-
tent to believe that this conflict ended
with the CruSades. The issue is a
living one. 1t must be faced by all
whose Christianity is a living thing.
No consideration of the future Of
Christianity In Asia can leave the
MosIem peril out of account.
Asia, it must never be forgotten,
is the land of the Saviour's birth. II
one continent means more to him than
any other, then it is surely the place
Of his own nativity, the land where
he spent his earthly life, and beyond
whose borders he never wandered,
after his parents had brought him up
from Egypt, that is the object Of his
especial solicitude. The faith which
Christendom once got from Asia it
today owes to Asia
A ~hackneyed objection to the pro-
mitigation of Christianity in Asia is
that the Asiatic nations have their
indigenous religions and hat Chris
tianity is a western faith. This is
simply not true: Christianity, like the
Judaism of which it sprung, was born
in Asia, and won it's earliest and
greatest victories there. More than
that the greatest present cOnqueSts
of the Christian religion are today
being achieved in the East. The most
clearly marked evidences Of the vital
ity Of the gospel are now being wit
messed in Korea, China and India. The
New Testament marks of discipleship
show with clearness in these new
friends of Jesus, who, like the Asiatics
Peter and Paul and John and James,
confess him in the face of persecution
and hardship.
"A million converts this year." is
the audacious slogan raised by the
infant Church Of Korea. There are
less than a hundred thousand Chris
tians in Korea, and twenty-five years
ago the nation was utterly heather.
Yet this million campaign has been
undertaken in all ca%refulness, after
much prayer. 1t is all on a basis Of
personal work. the nation being di-
Vlded up, twelve nOn-ChrlstianS to
each believer. A systematic campaign
Of Scripture distribution has been I'M
dertaken, and with a ~thoroughness Of
enlistment hat would scarcely be
possible in a western alton all the
Christians have set themselves to this
imperial task.
Not only have the number of Chris
tan converts in Asia increased ire
mondOuSIV of late but there have
also appeared a number of great
leaders like DR.. Lii. and Pastor Ding
in China, and a Pastor Xii in Korea.
These men have shown a preaching
power of the apostollc order, and
many hundreds have been won to
Christ by them.
Next to the twin notes of loyalty