Through Five Republics on Horseback Part 20

The veneration with which the Virgin Mary is regarded, and the power with which she is invested, are thus told by many a priest: "Once G.o.d was so angry with the world that He determined to destroy it, and was about to execute His design when Mary said to Him: 'Give me back first the milk with which I fed you, and then you can do so!' In this way she averted the impending destruction."

"Millions in Brazil look upon the Virgin Mary as their Saviour. A book widely circulated throughout northern Brazil says that Mary, when still a mere child, went bodily to heaven and begged G.o.d to send Christ, through her, into the world. Further on it says that Mary went again to heaven to plead for sinners; and at the close Mary's will is given, disposing of the whole world, and G.o.d the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--the Trinity--act as the three witnesses to the will. How many good Christians at home think Brazil is a Christian country?"

[Footnote: W. C. Porter.]

If the Bible were in circulation throughout South America, the populace would be enabled to see that Christ is not the remorseless Judge but the loving Saviour, and that it was He who purchased redemption for us.

Mary, according to Luke 1:47, was herself in need of a Saviour, and her only recorded command was to do as He, the Christ, enjoined (See John 2:5). Not only Protestants, but not even Roman Catholics born in Protestant countries, can understand what Romanism is in South America.

Christ said: "Search the Scriptures." Rome has done her best to destroy the sacred volume. Papal bulls, said to have been _dictated by the Holy Ghost_, have been issued by several Popes. Rome sometimes burned the martyrs with a Bible hanging around their necks. Romanists showed their hatred against Wycliffe, the first translator of the New Testament into English, by unearthing his crumbling remains and burning them to ashes.

I have often seen the same spirit shown in South America.

A colporteur, writing of Scripture circulation in the Argentine, says: "Many of the people are trying to get us ejected from the city. One, to whom a Bible was offered, became so infuriated that he said: 'If it were not such a public place? I would drown you in the river.'" A missionary writes: "A young fellow called out after me, 'I renounce you, Satan,' but as that is not my name, I did not turn back. During the meeting on Sunday evening, the priest came riding up to the window, and shouted that he would soon put a stop to us. Today he has had a number of bills printed, warning his paris.h.i.+oners to have nothing to do with us. To-night one of the bills was pasted on the door. Br. Arena took it off, and no sooner had he the door shut than two shots were fired, but they did no more harm than to pierce the door--thank G.o.d! I have been informed that a number of young men will either beat or shoot me, and that as I am the only one left they are going to make me leave, too, by foul or by fair means. The following is a translation of the priest's warning:

"To the faithful of Candelaria. Beware.

This parish has been invaded by one of the wicked sects of Protestantism, and, having the sacred duty of warning my paris.h.i.+oners, I give them to understand that should any one of them attend, even from mere curiosity, to hear the false and pernicious propaganda, or accept tracts or books that come from the propagators of Protestantism, he will be excommunicated from the true and only Church of Jesus Christ, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman, wherein resides the infallible authority. Beware, then, oh, ye faithful, and listen to your parish priest, who advises you of the danger of your souls."

Yet with all this darkness and error, the majority are well contented, and quite willing to obey "warnings" like this and the following, published in _Los Principios_, of Cordoba:

"It has come to our knowledge that there are amongst us various Protestant ministers, that distribute with profusion leaflets containing their erroneous doctrines and calumnies against the Catholic Church. Some of these leaflets and booklets have fallen into our hands, and in them we have found confirmation of what we say above.

In one of these leaflets, for example, they treat as idolatry the wors.h.i.+p that we Catholics tribute to the Mother of G.o.d. They treat as superst.i.tion the veneration they have in Rome for the holy staircase by which our Lord Jesus Christ went up to the judgment hall of Pilate. They combat the wors.h.i.+p of images, relics, and things of that description.

"Catholics ought to know that it is not lawful for them to read these leaflets, nor the Sacred Bible distributed by the Protestants, because it has been falsified by them, accommodating its texts to their errors. The Church has prohibited its children many times these pernicious readings.

Let us reject, according to the counsel of St. Paul, these ravenous wolves that come in sheep's clothing, for they come to kill and to destroy souls, thrusting them into the ways of error, being separated from the true Church of Jesus Christ, from which Luther, Calvin, Zuinglio, Henry VIII, and others separated themselves, of whom Cobbell, the Protestant historian, himself has said: 'Never has the world seem gathered into one century so many perverse men as Luther, Zuiniglio, Calvin,' etc."

One acquainted with Spanish-American Romanism will smile at the reference in the above article to the Bible having been falsified by us. If the text of any version extant is compared with those which are painted on the walls of the church in Celaya, there surely will be found a great discrepancy. The following are translations:

"MARY, my mother, in thee I hope; save me from those that persecute me."--Psalm vii. 1.

"Be thou exalted, O MARY, above the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth."--Psalm lvii. 5.

'I will sing to MARY while I live."--Psalm civ. 33.

"Serve MARY with love, and rejoice in her with trembling."--Psalm ii.

11.

"Offer sacrifices of righteousness and trust in MARY."--Psalm iv. 5.

"Let everything that hath breath praise OUR LADY," etc., etc.

Protestant Christians pay almost all the entire cost of circulating Roman Catholic translations of the Scriptures over the world. In the versions of De Saci (French), Martini (Italian), Scio (Spanish), Pereira (Portuguese), and Wuyka (Polish), we find in Matthew 3: 2, and thirty-four other places, instead of "repent ye" the words, "do penance," while in Matthew 3: 8, and some twenty other places, the word that should be translated "repentance," is rendered _penance._ In the following light way "penance" can be done, while "repentance" is not thought of.

For sins against the Church the priest will often condemn the culprit to wear a hideous garment for hours, or days, according to the gravity of the offence, but this punishment can be worn by proxy. There are always those who, for a consideration, will don the badge of disgrace.

What is called "Holy Week" gives proofs of the shallowness of Rome's piety. Priests and people alike can weep, fast and faint, because their G.o.d is suffering and dying; all traffic can stop because, they say, "G.o.d has died"; but as soon as the death of Judas is announced, at noon on Sat.u.r.day, the noise of guns, pistols, squibs, etc., takes the place of the death-like quiet that had reigned. After an hour or two silence again prevails till Sunday morning, when all restraint is removed, and people seem to make up for lost time. Drinking and kindred evils run riot, and it is no uncommon thing on the Sunday night to see the people drinking and dancing by the light of the candles they were burning to their favorite virgin or saint.

In the large city of Lima, for centuries a very stronghold of image wors.h.i.+p, the interest in the Church has of late years been waning.

Perhaps one reason for this is the changing nature of the native population of the city, for the deaths there exceed the births. Seeing this falling away from the Church, the priests announced that they had decided to send for the _Sacred Heart of the Virgin_, and trusted that the presence of this holy relic would promote the more faithful attendance of the flock. The _heart_ arrived and was with great solemnity hung from the roof of the cathedral as the incentive to piety. Thousands flocked into the sacred building with reverent awe.

The women gazed upon the heart with tearful eyes, and as they thought of Mary's sufferings and goodness they were emulated to deeper acts of love and piety. One day the wind blew very strongly through the open doorway, and the _Sacred Heart_ began to sway to and fro. Getting more and more momentum with every oscillation, the heart finally struck against a sharp cornice, when lo--_all the sawdust fell out_ of the canvas bag they had wors.h.i.+pped as the heart of flesh of their G.o.ddess.

How they reconciled the existence of the heart of the Virgin with their belief that she ascended to heaven in a bodily form I do not pretend to imagine. It may be remarked that this is surely Romanism corrupted.

Nay, it is rather Romanism developed.

"Andacilli is a hamlet, at which there is an image of the Virgin. Every year pilgrims resort thither, and a great feast to the Virgin is celebrated, the most important day being December 26th. During the last few years there has been a falling off in the number of pilgrims, especially those of the better cla.s.s, but this last year the clerical authorities have left no stone unturned in order to get together more people than ever. Six bishops were advertised to come, and they were to crown the Virgin with a crown which cost thousands of dollars. These proceedings rouse an incredible enthusiasm in the people." [Footnote: "Regions Beyond."]

Sometimes Mary's image is baptized in the river, while men and women line the bank, ready to leap into the _holy water_ when she is lifted out. Afterwards the water in which she was immersed is sold as a cure for bodily ills. Sometimes the earth from under the building where she is kept is also sold for the same purpose.

Imagine a church like that in Tucuru! "It consists of a palm-leaf hut, with a bare floor and no furniture whatever. Round the sides stand twelve life-size figures, made of canvas and stuffed with husks of corn, which some one of the Indian wors.h.i.+ppers has painted with the features and dress of his own race. When I went in two women lay prostrate on the floor, and one of them screamed in agonizing tones, 'My Lords, send the rod of your power to heal him!'--evidently praying to these apostles on behalf of some sick relative. Here, once a year, a priest celebrates ma.s.s, and when he last came he stuck a paper over the entrance, which read: _Hoec est Domus Del et Porta Coeli_ (' This is the House of G.o.d and the Gate of Heaven.') In San Jose we have the four walls of a new church, consecrated to the 'Virgin,' where, recently, a raffle was held on behalf of the projected edifice. As we enter, the first thing seen is an inscription, professing to be a message to each visitor from the Virgin, which says, 'My son, behold me without a temple. Come, help in building it, and I shall reward thee with Eternal Life." [Footnote: Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society.]

Christ said: "I give unto My sheep eternal life"; but the record of that saying is jealously kept from them.

When the early colonists left Spain for the New World, they took with them the Creed of Pius IV. That creed expressly states that the Bible is not for the people. "Whoever will be saved must _renounce_ it. It is a forbidden book."

"In 1850, when the Christian world was first being roused to the darkness of South America, and philanthropic men were desirous of sending Bibles there, Pope Pius IX. wrote an Encyclical letter in which he spoke of Bible study as 'poisonous reading,' and urged all his venerable brethren with vigilance and solicitude to put a stop to it.

Thus has South America been denied the revelation of G.o.d. The priest has, because of this ignorance, been able to 'lord it over G.o.d's heritage.'" [Footnote: Guiness's "Romanism and the Reformation."]

With an open Bible, Spanish America would have progressed as North America has done. Without the enlightening influences of that Word, behold the darkness! Could anything be more eloquent than the prosperity of the land of the Pilgrim Fathers in proclaiming the value of the open Bible?

Mr. Hudson Taylor, of the China Inland Mission, speaking on a recent occasion, said: "I always pray for South America. It is a most needy part of the world, and wants your prayers as well as mine. The workers there have great difficulties to contend with, and of the same sort as we have in China, from Roman Catholicism--the most G.o.d-dishonoring system in the world. The heathen need your prayers, but the Roman Catholic needs them ten times more. He is ten times as much in the dark as the heathen themselves are."

The _Missionary Review of the World_ describes South America as "Earth's darkest land." Do you not think, O reader, the words are most truly applied?

"There are in South America eight hundred missionaries, men and women, from Great Britain, the Continent of Europe, Canada and the United States. In Canada and the United States there is on an average one Protestant minister for every 514 persons. In South America each missionary has a const.i.tuency of about fifty thousand, indicating a need in proportion of population one hundred times as great as in the Protestant countries of North America." [Footnote: Bishop Neely's "South America."]

Yet, One called Jesus, whom we say we love, said: "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature."