Brazilian missions : a monthly bulletin of missionary intelligence

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^ 7

Vol. I. FEBRUARY, 1888. No. 2.

BRAZILIAN
MISSIONS.

MONTHLY BULLETIN

OF

MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.

EDITED IN

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL,

AND PUBLISHED IN

BROOKLYN, N. Y.

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1^ BEWARE OF IMITATIOrVS."^

Vol. I. Brookltit, N. Y., February, 1888. No

Some friends of missions have pro-
vided the means for issuing a large
edition of this number. It is sent, as
was the January number, to many-
ministers, students and others in the
hope that they will be sufficiently in-
terested in the field which it repre-
sents, and the record of the Lord's
work therein to desire also the suc-
ceeding numbers, and that they will
remit to the publisher the small
amount asked for an annual subscrip-
tion, and also that they will com-
mend the bulletin to others.

Many Christians cherish but a lan-
guid interest in the foreign work of
the church simply because they know
so little about it. The unevangel-
ized millions beyond our own land
seem very remote from us; their
appalling destitution is not thrust
upon our attention. So it happens
that from sheer indifference, multi-
tudes of believers fail to inform
themselves as to the progress of the
gospel in papal, Mohammedan and
heathen lands. They do not realize
that they are living in an age of un-
paralleled opportunity, that the
whole world is open, and that the
standard of the Cross is advancing as
never before since Pentecost. The
aim of this and of similar periodicals
is to lay the facts before God's people.
Brazil is but a part, and comparative-
ly a small part, of the world-wide

2.

field, but sometimes it is better not
to have too extended a sphere of
vision; for vividness of impressiotj, a
concentration of attention is often
necessary. If any reader of this
monthly is led to a deeper sense of
Brazil's great needs and to a better
understanding of the wonderful ad-
vance which the Kingdom is making
there, this cannot tend to narrow his
sympathies. He will desire to know
more of other lands also; and as his
knowledge increases, so will his zeal
be quickened, and he will learn to
labor and pray that all the world may
be won for Christ.

A DRAFT ON HOME.

Two strangers met at the stamp
window in the Sao Paulo post office.
It was nearly lo o'clock at night,
and in a few minutes the mail would
close for the home steamer.

One was sending a large package
containing the manuscript for the
first number of the Bulletin. The
other glanced at the direction, and
remarked that his letter, too, was for
the same steamer, and showed the
address of Mrs. , of New York.

" That's my mother," said he,
" and I am a New Yorker too."

He had been drinking heavily, and
said, with a curse, that he wished he
was out of the plagued country. "But
I have married here and have chil-
dren, and what can I do.'" he added.

lo BRAZILIAN

As the two dropped in their letters,
he said half to himself, "There, I

have sent the thing, any way,"

and turning to his countryman with
a surly laugh — " It was to tell my
mother that I had just drawn on
her for $2,000, ten days after sight,
through the English Bank. I guess she
would rather have the letter without
the draft."

Poor prodigal, far from his mother,
and farther yet from his father's
house ! A mother's heart may beat,
and her eyes grow dim with tears,
but tJie draft will be honored.

And what will be the fate of the
other draft — the one on the mother
Church, that draft for sympathies
and prayers for sons and for daugh-
ters .''

We cannot wait to hear. Our need
is pressing. And so we send here-
with a second and a larger draft.
And we draw at sight.

Opportunities are passing, open
doors are closing, souls are perish-
ing, and we cannot wait.

TEACHER WANTED.

In our school at Sao Paulo we
need at once a primary teacher, of
sound sense and experience,' ac-
quainted with object-teaching and
molding, to teach children and to
train our young teachers in the work
of managing children.

The school can pay her the usual
salary of mission teachers. Apply,
giving full particulars, to Rev.
Arthur Mitchell D. D., 53 Fifth
Ave., New York.

Since our last issue ten more adults
have made profession in Conceigao,
and nine children have been bap-
tized.

MISSIONS.

A PERTINENT QUESTION.

It was first addressed to the writer,
but he passes it on to every reader
as pertinent to each, and not imper-
tinent to any.

" What was your father doing,
that viy father died, and never knew
that there was such a book as the
Bible ? "

I could excuse the fathers by alleg-
ing that when they attempted to put
the Bible in the hands of the last
generation of Brazilians "the Book"
was contraband.

But who will excuse 71s, if such a
question is put to our children ? It
is in our power to bring the gospel in
its fullness within reach of every one
of the present generation in Brazil.

TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS.

A BOY of eight summers, a Brazil-
ian, if nationality depends on birth-
place, who is passing the winter amid
the snows of Northfield, Mass., had
his " Yankee " ambition fired by the
" supplement " offering to canvassers
for Brazilian Missions a premium of
foreign stamps. He is already among
the twenties, and has found that there
is something better than stamps in
the business. For a young man who
read our January bulletin has called
on his father to converse about con-
secrating his life to Brazil. We want
a complete collection of boys and
girls who will go and do likewise.
Will you be one, dear boy and girl,
who reads this 'i

» • •

" If we ask how it was that Paul
made so much out of his life * * I
think we may say it was the cntlui-
siasni of his love, which took him
out of himself in devotion to his great
Master." — J. F. Clarke.

BRAZILIAN MISSIONS.

II

A FATHER'S PRAYERS.

In the city of Rio de Janeiro, Bra-
zil, lives an old man, who for many
years has been employed as colporteur
by the British and Foreign Bible So-
ciety. He is a native of the Madeira
Islands, whence he was expelled with
other converts to Protestantism in
1846. After several years of wan-
dering, four of which were spent in
the Portuguese colony in Springfield,
111., he was invited to Brazil to
meet Dr. R. R. Kalley, who was just
commencing his successful evangeli-
cal labors in the capital of the Em-
pire. Ever since, he has been employ-
ed in distributing the word of God.

He has raised a large family, but his
small salary, less than $40 a month,
has not admitted of his giving
them more than a primary education.
Three little boys remained at home;
the oldest, Henrique, 12 years old,
is a remarkably bright and promis-
ing child. His father had long hoped
that the Lord whom he had served
so faithfully would honor him by ac-
cepting the gift of this son for the
ministry, but the way had not ap-
peared. At last, in June, 1885, it
seemed necessary that the boy
should commence to earn his own
living. The father tried and tried in
vain to find a place for the boy in
some business. Taking the failure
as a sign that God had better
things in store for his son, the old
man decided to wait three months
longer, and to spend the time in ear-
nest prayer that God would provide
the means to educate the boy.

In this same month, a young mis-
sionary was preparing to leave the
United States to join the Presbyter-

ian mission in S. Paulo. The last
Sabbath but one had arrived. An
intimate friend of the family, a young
man just commencing his business
career, was a visitor in the cottage
by the sea.

At bed-time the younger of the
two called his friend aside, and hand-
ing him a roll of bills, said : " I feel
that I imist send this money with
you to Brazil. I do not know why,
but it has been on my mind all day,
and the impulse is too strong to resist
longer. It is rare that I carry so
much cash when I travel, but yester-
day I drew this to pay my tailor,
and a series of unexpected interrup-
tions kept me busy until the last mo-
ment before train time. Please take
it with you and use as you thmk
best."

The bills exchanged for gold, after
a six weeks sailing voyage, landed
with their custodian on Brazilian
soil. A month later a special provi-
dence— the world would say a happy
chance — let the new-comer into the
secret of the old man's prayers, and
it became plain what it was that
kept pulling all day long at his
friend's purse-strings that Sunday
in America — the very day undoubt-
edly in which faith had determined
to make its final effort.

The money sufficed for traveling
expenses and two months' charges
in the S. Paulo boarding-school.
Before they had expired, more money
was on hand, and ever since, though
often from unexpected sources, and
always unsolicited save by prayer,
the means have been graciously
supplied to continue the boy's educa-
tion. And who doubts that they
will be as long as needed .''

12

BRAZILIAN MISSIONS.

But, Christian friends, there are
scores of Brazilian boys, with every
promise of becoming useful Christian
men, if brought under the influence
of our mission school, who have no
praying fathers to secure them these
advantages. Are there not some of
you whom God has so blessed that
you might supply the lack, sending
the money, accompanied by earnest
prayer that it might find a lad whom
God has called to preach the Gos-
pel to his countrymen ?

FAITH CONaUEES.

The following conversation, sub-
stantially, occurred in San Paulo near
the end of last November.

Eugenio is a boy from a fishing set-
tlement near Conceigao do Itan-
haen. Said he to his teacher :

" Will it be possible for my young-
er brother to come here to study
next term } He is very anxious to
do so."

" We should be delighted to have
him," was the reply ; " but unfortu-
nately we have no funds for his sup-
port. The allowance of the Mission
will all be needed for others."

He was encouraged, however, to
believe that God could easily send
the money needed; and the story of
Henrique Jardin (which the reader
will find in the preceding article)
was told, to prove the power of
prayer. He was urged to go home
and tell the story and incite all to
believing prayer.

Day before yesterday (January ii)
came a letter dated November 2 1 ,from
a Christian lady who, unsolicited,
sends $200 to " support a student " in
our schools.

Mr. Arthington's Offer. — The offer of
5,000, made by Mr. Robert Arthington, of
Leeds, for the establishment of a mission to the
Indians of North Brazil, has been alike declined
by the Foreign Mission Committee of the Free
Church of Scotland, the London Mission Society,
and the Baptist Missionary Society. The Free
Church committee point out that the region Mr.
Arthington is desirous to see entered upon is within
reach of the Episcopalians, Moravians, Method-
ists, and American Presbyterians, who already
occupy Central America. — The Christian, Janu-
ary 27.

Could Mr. Arthington do better
than confide the administration of
this fund to the Synod of Brazil,
into which the several Presbyteries
now existing in that Empire are to
be received in August next The
Synod will be composed of nearly
fifty native churches, scattered in the
various provinces of the Empire, and
ministered to by twenty foreign mis-
sionaries, and a growing native min-
istry, of which the twelve now acting
as pastors and evangelists are the
first-fruits.

MARIOLATRY.

It is not a rare thing to meet in
the interior towns, women of lovely
character devoted to the Romish
faith and observant of all its precepts.
It is pitiful to see how these loving
hearts have been taught to substitute
Mary for Christ, and to lavish on her
the devotion due to Him alone.

A favorite picture represents the
Father and Son placing a crown on
the Virgin's head, and the Holy
Spirit as a dove descending upon her.

A current pamphlet of thirty
pages, octavo, is filled with fabulous
details of the Virgin's life.

We translate faithfully a portion.

After describing her resurrection •
and assumption, and crowning by the

BRAZILIAN MISSIONS.

13

three persons of the Trinity, the
writer proceeds : " She was thus pro-
claimed Queen and Mistress of all
creatures, with entire control, be-
stowed by divinity, over them all, so
that all depends on her, and receive
from her hands virtues, graces, being
and preservation ; graces not only
natural, such as health, riches, rain,
harvests and remedies ; but also su-
pernatural, as inspirations, aids and
every gift : willing and commanding \
that nothing be granted or commu- |
nicated to creatures save by the |
hands of the Lady, and that she be ■
arbiter and mistress of all the wealth i
and treasures of God: 'For' (the
words of the Lord are literally quot-
ed ) ' all our possessions are thine, as
thou always wast ours ; and there-
fore thou shalt reign with us for all
eternity.' "

And this is the purest type of Ro-
manism to be encountered in Brazil.

Does Brazil need missionaries
Judge ye ; and no longer plead igaor-
ance as an excuse for excluding the
light of the Gospel from this sin-
darkened Southern continent.

BREAD ON THE WATERS.

In 1862 the writer gave to a Bra-
zilian lad of sixteen a New Test-
ament, "Pilgrim's Progress," and
" Henry and his Bearer." The Test-
ament was carried by its owner
through the Paraguayan war, and
has leavened his whole life. At pres-
ent, he is principal of a school of
boys and girls in his native city of
Porto Alegre (capital of the Pro-
vince of Rio Grande do Sul), where
over one hundred pupils daily hear
the Testament read. Its truths are

also set to song, and are carried from
the school into many homes on the
wings of gospel hymns. Cast thy
bread on the waters.

THE JEWS.

It was the night of the 8th of
January, and the missionary awoke
shortly after midnight, able to sleep
no longer. The signs of great bless-
ings to follow the week of Prayer,
kept him awake to praise God for
His goodness.

Suddenly, and quite contrary to
his previous habits of thought, his
heart went out in sympathy for
"God's ancient people Israel," the
" present awakening " among whom
had been among the motives for
thanksgiving mentioned by the
Evangelical Alliance.

For perhaps half an hour he was
moved to pray as never before in all
his life, be it freely confessed, for
the salvation of Israel according to
the flesh.

Before noon, arrived a young emi-
grant to whom the address of the
American school had been casually
given on the train a few days before.
He proved to be a Roumanian Jew,
who left home a lad of ten, because
of his father's rough treatment. He
had been in Jerusalem, in Bethle-
hem, in Egypt with the English
army and General Gordon, in London,
and in New York. Only twenty-
two years old, he speaks his native
Roumanian, his father's native Ger-
man, Modern Greek, 7\rabic, Italian,
Spanish, English and Portuguese (the
latter after only a month in Lisbon
and two weeks in Brazil). Besides,
he knows Hebrew.

14

BRAZILIAN MISSIONS.

On his way to New York, his ves-
sel was shipwrecked, and on being
rescued, he received a tract describ-
ing a shipwreck, by the Rev. Jacob
Freshman, which resulted in his con-
version to Christ. We take the
liberty of extracting a few sentences
from a letter dictated by him a few
hours ago, to be sent for his " Bap-
tist papers," as he called them.
The ideas are all his, while their ex-
pression was conformed to the cur-
rent idioms.

"Before leaving New York, I call-
ed for my certificate of baptism, but
you were not at home. I was very
sorry not to see either yourself or j
your wife, to pay my regards before i
leaving. !

"I am so glad that, while the Lord
tries us in temptations, in the hour
of danger He is always at our side.
I wanted to go from London to Rio
Grande do Sul, but the ship was
wrecked between the Azores and
Lisbon. Praying to the Lord, He
saved us by His hand.

" I cannot tell you how great is
the fortune I have found in this reli-
gion. In my old Talmudic Hebrew
religion I always used to expect the
Messias ; but since I left my old
belief I find the Messias is always
with me ; and I am so glad that He
sustains me in every need.

"I send regards to Mr. Gries, and
to Mrs. Freshman and to yourself,
and to all friends who inquire for
me.

" Will you kindly send my certifi-
cate of baptism to the above address.
" Very Respectfully,

" Leon Feldman."

In Sao^Paulo, with its 5,000 Ger-
mans and 18,000 Italians, and
motley gathering of all nations, we
have long needed one to speak to
these people in their own tongues of
the wonderful works of God.

Yesterday we started this young
man, so admirably fitted for such
work, with a few Bibles and Testa-
ments. At dinner, he came back
with a face radiant with joy. He
had spent most of his time among
eight or ten Arabs he had found in
the market-place, and belonging to
the little colony in this city. When
they found he had the New Testa-
ment in Arabic, and spoke their own
tongue, he says it was touching to
see how eagerly they crowded
around him. Some said they were
already Christians. One young man
bought tlie Testament, and left his
merchandise, and came all the way
a mile and a half, to our rooms,
because lie would not believe that a
man who had Bibles did not have
tracts too. He gave us the names
of four or five, for which we shall
send to Beyrout.

We had offered Leon the 20 per
cent, commission allowed by the
Bible Society, to whom the books
belong. He refuses to take it, at
least for the present.

" If you continue to give me
board and lodging, sir, and a few
clothes as I need them, I ask for no
more. What is money t It only
gets us into trouble. If I had not had
$200 saved in New York, I would
never have gone away, and gotten
into so much trouble. Now I never
want to go away from the Church
again. I want to stay here and do
what work I can for God."

Young men of America, God does
not depend on you for workers in
this land. If you will not hear our
cry and come over and help us, the
loss of the grandest of earthly privi-
leges will be yours, His will be the

BRAZILIAN

glory of sending the reapers from
other lands. Will you let the Jew
and the Mahommetan enter into the
inheritance which by natural right
belongs to you ?

aUANTOS DEOSES HA?

" How many Gods are there ?" So
spake the teacher of our primary
school in S. Paulo to her pupils.

" There are many," said a little lad.

"What, child. There is but one
God. Who is God ? "

" God is a man with arms out-
stretched upon a cross ; and there
are many. I have seen one in the
House of Correction, where my father
is a guard ; and one in the Cathe-
dral ; and one at the Church of our
Lady of the Rock."

The boy's logic was good, and the
system which misled him is bad,
very bad. Ex. 20 : 4, compare with
Matt. 18 :6.

DOES BRAZIL NEED MISSION-
ARIES ?

Many earnest Christians who are
full of missionary zeal, fancy Catholic
countries do not need missionaries,
or at least that the need of pagan
lands is so surpassingly greater that
all efforts should be directed to them.

This is doubtless due to the fact
that their ideas of Romanism come
from their observations of the modi-
fied form in which they see it, sur-
rounded by dominant Protestantism.

It seems impossible that any true
Christian could see the moral and
spiritual darkness which prevails in
South America, the sad heritage of
three centuries of Romanism, without

MISSIONS. 15

feeling that its people are as truly
destitute of the gospel as any in the
world.

The Christian traveler in Brazil
finds that the illiterate classes (and
80 per cent, of the people are illiter-
ate) are, as a rule, plunged in an idol-
atry little different from that of
pagans. Images of the saints, the
Virgin and the cross are true idols.

A few weeks ago a missionary en-
tered a second-class car to find it
full of slaves. He asked one of them
who they were.

" We are slaves of Our Lady."

"Why, I did not know that Our
Lady owned slaves," was the reply.

"Yes, she does. We belong to
her ; and there she is" pointing to
an image two feet high, carried with
the greatest reverence by a mulatto
boy.

The illustration is chosen because
recent and convenient. Scores of
similar cases might be cited.

ROOM FOR SICK MEN.

Brazil lies in part under the equa-
tor. True. Its seaport towns are
sometimes visited by yellow fever.
Equally true.

But the usual inference that as a
whole it is unhealthy, is far from
correct.

The Empire is a big place — a little
bigger than the United States, leav-
ing out Alaska.

The provinces of Parana, Santa
Catharina, Rio Grande do Sul and
the southern part of Sao Paulo lie
wholly in the south temperate zone;
while parts of the high table-land of
Minas Geraes possess a climate of un-
rivaled salubrity. Caldas with its

i6 BRAZILIAN

hot springs, Lambary and Caxambii
with their mineral waters, Cam-
panha, Itajuba, Lavras and Canna
Verde all resemble, in climate, South-
ern California more nearly than any
other part of the United States.

Fourteen years ago, when Senhor
Miguel Torres was ordained and sent
to Caldas, he was thought to be in
the last stages of consumption. To-
day he is hale and hearty, and can
point to five flourishing churches
with a membership of three hundred
as the fruit of his labor. So, if no
more able-bodied men can be spar-
ed for Brazil, places can readily be
found where the broken-down, by
simply living Christ, could greatly
aid in the work, while seeking
recovery.

ROMISH TEACHERS' INSTRUCTIONS.

So early as i68i " a compendium
of Christian doctf ine " in the Indian
tongue was prepared by Romish
missionaries in Brazil, and printed
in Lisbon in parallel columns of
Portuguese and Tupy, and reprinted
by order of His Royal Higliness in
1800. The following extract is a
sample of the " Christian doctrine."

Master : How many places are
there in the centre of the earth which
serve for the abode of souls

Disciple : There are four. Hell,
P2wgatory, Limbo of cJiildren, and
Limbo of the Holy Fathers.

M. What is Hell

D. It is a flaming, inextinguish-
able fire ; and a place most horrible
of penal suffering, and eternal tor-
ments of devils and of those dying
in mortal sin.

M. What is Purgatory t

MISSIONS.

D. It is a great fire a little above

Hell, in which are the holy souls
{almas saiitas) of those who died in
grace, giving satisfaction for their
sins for which they had not fully
satisfied in this world.

AI. What is the limbo of children

D. It is a dark cavern above pur-
gatory in which are the children who
died witliout baptism.

M. What is the limbo of the Holy
Fathers, or bosom of Abraham

D. It is a cavern above the limbo
of children, in which were anciently
the souls of the Holy Fathers, before
Christ our Lord took them out of it.

It may be some relief from the
gloom of this quartette of places — the
four gospels of Rome — to know, as I
learn from a marginal note of some
former reader of the copy now in my
possession, that the fourth place is
now vacant and " to let." We com-
mend it as a summer resort to any
" fathers" who think that we ought
not to have missions in Romish
countries.

G. W. C.

A monthly bulletin of Missionary intelligence
is edited by Presbyterian Missionaries at Sao
Paulo, Brazil, and published at Brooklyn, N. Y.

Subscription price 25 cents per annum in ad-
vance. Outside of the United States and Can-
ada, 1 2 cents must be added for foreign postage.

Where money orders or postal notes cannot be
conveniently obtained, small amounts may be re-
mitted in U. S. postage stamps.

Subscriptions may be sent to Rev. Donald
McLaren, D. D., 372 Lewis Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Correspondence for the editors should be directed
to "Brazilian Missions," Caixa do Conreo, 14
Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Sample copies will be furnished on application.

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