Latin America : the pagans, the Papists, the patriots, the Protestants and the present problem

LATIN AMERICA

PROCESSION OF CORPUS CHRISTI, BOGOTA

STUDENTS* LECTURES ON MISSIONS

PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

MCMI

LATIN AMERICA

THE PAGANS THE PAPISTS
THE PATRIOTS THE PROTESTANTS
AND THE PRESENT PROBLEM

BY

HUBERT W. BROWN, M. A,

ILLUSTRATED

New YorK

YOUNG PEOPLE'S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT

OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA

1909

Copyright 1901

by

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
(May)

CONTENTS

LECTURE I

PAGE

THE PAGANS. 11-58

Pagan Beliefs and Practices.
Resemblances to Romanism.
Pagan Indians and Mixed Race of To-day.

LECTURE II

THE PAPISTS. 59-121

Missionaries and Their Methods.
Wealth and Power of the Church.
Corruption and Failure.

LECTURE III

THE PATRIOTS. M3-I74

Causes of Awakening.
The Fight for Independence.
The Struggle for Religious Liberty.

LECTURE IV

THE PROTESTANTS. 175-231

Early Efforts and Exploration of the Field.
The Bible and Protestant Literature.
Education and Modern Evangelization.

LECTURE V

THE PRESENT PROBLEM. 233-283

Papal and Protestant Conditions Contrasted.
Threefold Influence of Protestantism.
Prospect for Self-sustaining Protestant Work.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE. 285

INDEX. 291

5

List of Illustrations

Procession of Corpus Christi, Bogota Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

Aztec Idol, Teocalli, Mexico City, Found in 1790. ) 3g

The Palemke Cross f

Church of Guadalupe, Mexico City 66

Selling Images of Judas, to be Exploded 106

Crowned with Thorns Doing Penance on Her

Knees.

The Holy Spirit on a Pole

President Benito Juarez

Statue of Bolivar

Presbyterian Church, San Luis Potosi

Members of the Presbyterian Church, Merida,

Yucatan

Rev. Arcadio Morales

Church of Divine Salvador, Mexico City

A Day School in Bahia, Brazil

Second General Assembly of Christian Workers,

Mexico City

Students of the Presbyterian Theological Semi-

nary, Mexico ,

McKenzie College, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Presbyterian Girls' Normal School, Mexico City
A Class, Presbyterian Normal School, Saltillo. .
Presbyterian Church, " San Augustin," Zacatecas. 268

112

1 66

182

206

214
228

PREFACE

UNDER the title " The Religious Development
and Need of Latin America, with a Comparison
of Roman Catholic and Protestant Missions " the
following lectures were delivered, in October of
1900, as The Students' Lectures on Missions at
the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Prince-
ton, N. J., and later at Auburn and at Western
Theological Seminary.

In the present title the term " papist " is not
used in a disparaging sense. It is meant simply
to designate the upholders of the Papacy, against
whose doctrines and pretensions the " protestant "
enters a solemn protest.

The purpose of these lectures is to awaken an
interest in Mexico, Central and South America as
mission fields. Indebtedness to many mission-
aries as well as to early writers and historians is
gratefully acknowledged. The writer can hardly
claim originality even for the method of treat-
ment. He has, however, tried to set forth in these
pages that conception of the problem which has
come to him during sixteen years of service in
Mexico as a missionary of the Presbyterian
Church.

To understand aright the present condition of
Latin America it is necessary to know something
7

8 Preface

of the religious beliefs and practices of the primi-
tive inhabitants of this extensive region. The
early missionary monks, such as Sahagun and
Motolinia in Mexico, and the Jesuits of Paraguay,
have left us many personal narratives of what
they themselves saw. Some of the resemblances
to certain Roman Catholic observances in the rites
and ceremonies of the heathen religions are sug-
gestive to the thoughtful reader.

The same writers, and historians like Mendieta,
tell also the story of the planting of the Roman
Catholic church in the New World. We have
quoted many of their own criticisms on the work.
No protestant student has criticized the defects of
Romanism in Latin America more severely than
writers of their own faith. The heroism and de-
votion of the early Roman Catholic missionaries
is gladly recognized. Undoubtedly there are many
devout Christians among the Romanists of Brazil
and Spanish America ; but the system as a whole,
when judged by its results, must be condemned.

For the citizens of the Latin American repub-
lics the writer has a warm regard which has been
deepened and intensified by study of their heroic
fight for religious liberty, as told by their own
writers and by English and American eye-wit-
nesses of the struggle. The same warm glow Is
kindled in every writer upon this theme. It thrills
in the pages of Butler's " Mexico in Transition "
and in Butterworth's " South America," in " The
Neglected Continent," in " Darkest South Amer-

Preface 9

ica," and in "Protestant Missions in South Amer-
ica," recently issued by the Student Volunteer
Movement.

This last book gives a good idea of the extent
and nature of the work of our evangelical
churches in that great field. It is a pleasure to
note the unanimity with which the missionaries
who wrote the several chapters call attention to
the same great features of our propaganda upon
which the present writer lays stress.

It is hoped that this portrayal of the different
elements which enter into the religious problems
of Latin America will make plain the fact, that
while progress has been made, there is still great
spiritual destitution, and that our help is needed.
In the great future upon which this portion of
the western hemisphere is now entering, evangeli-
cal Christianity should, under God, play a chief
part.

The past of these historic lands of the New
World lures us by its mystery ; the heroes who so
freely shed their blood for religious liberty win
our sympathy; while the future is so bright with
promise that, like the prophet of old, every mis-
sionary feels a fire within his bones that will not
let him rest until he has cried to his countrymen :
Win all America for Christ, ALL America from
Alaska to Cape Horn.

Lecture I — THE PAGANS

"Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,
Who have faith in God and Nature,
Who believe that in all ages
Every human heart is human,
That in even savage bosoms
There are longings, yearnings, strivings,
For the good they comprehend not,
That the feeble hands and helpless,
Groping blindly in the darkness,
Touch God's right hand in that darkness
And are lifted up and strengthened;
Listen to this simple story."

HIAWATHA.

II

Synopsis of Lecture I

INTRODUCTORY. — Need for Protestant missions. — Plan
of the work. — Extent of the field. — Struggle of Anglo-
Saxon and Latin ior supremacy. — Future of America,
Roman Catholic, or Protestant?

I. PAGAN BELIEFS AND PRACTICES. — Character of ab-
origines.— Mode of life. — Religious beliefs of savage tribes.
— Hiawatha an idealized picture. — Darker side.

Civilized native races. — Where found. — Attainments.—
Origin, various theories. — Place among religions of man-
kind.

Inca civilization. — Paternal absolutism. — Sun worship. —
Festival of Raymi. — Resemblances to festivals of Roman
Catholic Indians.

Aztec civilization. — Public square and temples of Mexico
Tenochtitlan. — War god, Huitzilopochtli, symbolism. —
Eating the god. — Fair god Quetzalcoatl, symbolism.—
Promised return and advent of white race.

Symbolism of the gods of pagan America. — Pantheism. —
Gross idolatry. — Symbolism of the pagan cross.

Pagan priesthood, powerful caste. — Role in life of peo-
ple.— Heathen baptism. — Horoscope of child. — Convent
schools. — Rites for warriors, merchants, etc. — Sacred
feasts. — The sacred year. — Hold on imagination of people.
— Value of this study.

II. RESEMBLANCES TO ROMANISM. — Easy transition from
pagan to papal control. — Not overvalue resemblances. —
Roman Catholic missionaries attributed resemblances to the
devil. — Flood, tower of Babel, baptism, confirmation, Lord's
Supper, etc.

Resemblances, in method. — Not of essence of Christian-
ity, but peculiarities of Romanism. — Political insight. —
Knowledge of human nature. — Transfer of allegiance from
one set of priests, images, sacrifices, to another. — Both
had penance, confession, processions, fasts, feasts, religious
holidays, convent schools. — Triumphs of Romanism where
paganism most highly developed.

III. PAGAN INDIANS AND MIXED RACE OF TO-DAY. — Mil-
lions of pagan Indians. — Of mixed race. — Cruder forms of
heathen belief survive in unexplored, inaccessible places.

Three million five hundred thousand Indians in Mexico
alone. — Sr. Romero's description. — Distinguished Indians.
— " Changed only their idols." — Mass of heathenism invites
Protestant worker.

Brazil heathen Indians of interior. — Missionary monks

faganized Christian ceremonies. — 1,000,000 Indians possess
our-fifths of Brazil. — South America a " Dark Continent."
— 3,000 miles and no Protestant missionary. — 5,000,000
pagan Indians. — Failure of Romanism.

CONCLUSION. — Missionary needs this knowledge to un-
derstand Indians and mixed race of whose life religion
was and is a large part.

12

LECTURE I
The Pagans

"The thoughts of primitive humanity were not only
different from our thoughts, but different also from what
we think their thoughts ought to have been."

MAX MILLER.

I appear before you as an advocate. I ask
you to be the judges in this matter. My desire
is to present the religious needs of Latin Amer-
ica; to show cause why the Protestant churches
of the United States should continue the gos-
pel work which they have so nobly begun
in the Spanish and Portuguese countries which
lie to the south of us. Evangelical mission work
in these lands, where Roman Catholicism has
ruled so long without a rival, is criticized in some
quarters. The arguments against our work re-
duce themselves to these, namely, that the Roman
Catholic Church is a Christian Church, capable of
caring for the religious and spiritual needs of the
people, and better adapted than Protestantism to
the character and conditions of the Indo-Latin
races of America. In answer to these statements
it is only necessary to point out the superstitious
practices sanctioned by Romanism, together with
the religious destitution of the people; and, in

14 Needs of Latin America

contrast, the spiritual work that Protestant mis-
sions are doing. Political and social history will
be touched upon only when necessary to make
plain the force and nature of my statements as to
the religious development of the people.

We shall begin with a study of the religious be-
liefs of the pagan Indians; then glance at the
work done by the Roman Catholic Church ; at the
patriotic struggle for religious liberty; and,
lastly, at the work of the Protestants and the
problem which to-day confronts our workers. This
is the natural historical order of treatment, and
will, we trust, make plain a steady advance from
lower to higher forms of religious life in the de-
velopment of Latin America; and after such a
survey, we shall see good reason for encourage-
ment in the present outlook.

If there has been any lack of interest in the re-
generation of Latin America, it has been largely
due to a failure to understand the need for such
regeneration. The recent study of the religious
conditions of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philip-
pines, has emphasized the moral destitution of
these lands and awakened enthusiasm for their
evangelization. Let this new enthusiasm extend
to all Latin America. It is a noble ambition to
give to the whole of this Western Hemisphere the
same spiritual advantages and advancement which
our own highly favored land enjoys. In the
struggle against ignorance and superstition, let
our watchword be : All America for Christ !

The Pagans 15

The greatness of the task we thus set ourselves
should appeal to us as Americans by reason of its
very magnitude. Great undertakings make an
especial appeal to our sympathies and interest.
Look then for a moment at the size of our West-
ern Hemisphere, in which the United States plays
the most prominent role. Our position entails
religious as well as political obligations to the rest
of our fellow Americans.

America is a vast continent, comprising three-
tenths of the dry land of the earth's surface. Its
two huge triangles stretch from north to south
through nearly every degree of latitude. Its
seventeen million square miles will probably be
called upon, in the near future, to sustain an
enormous population. There is every variety of
climate from polar cold to equatorial heat; from
the sultry atmosphere of the low-lying lands
within the tropics, to the bracing air of the high
plateaus where flourished the most advanced
pagan civilizations of this old New World. The
backbone of the continent is a mighty mountain
range whose loftiest peaks are white with eternal
snow even beneath the vertical sun of the tropics.
There are wide plains and dense forests, watered
by some of the longest rivers on our globe. There
is untold mineral wealth. This is the glorious
inheritance which has for four hundred years been
thrown wide open for occupation by the Christian
nations of Europe.

Here the Anglo-Saxons and the Latins have

1 6 Needs of Latin America

struggled for supremacy, and are to-day in
friendly rivalry. Here two religious systems,
each calling itself Christian, have been propa-
gated: the Roman Catholic and the Protestant.
To which, if to either, does the future of America
belong? The rivalry of the past, both in politics
and religion, has often been both bitter and
bloody. At first the Latin had nearly our whole
hemisphere under his control, and the Roman
Catholic missionary went everywhere. The
French Roman Catholics of Canada, and the
Spanish Romanists of our own Southwest still
remain as a reminder of that heroic age of col-
onization. To-day, however, although these alien
elements are not yet wholly absorbed by the ever
advancing tide of Protestant civilization, the line
of demarcation is well defined. North of the Rio
Grande the Anglo-Saxon rules supreme; while
southward there stretches away the vast domain
of Latin America. The English speaking races
hold 6,878,024 * square miles of territory, much
of it in the frozen regions of the far north; the
Spanish Republics contain 4,364,754 square miles,
and Portuguese Brazil 3,219,000 square miles,
making a larger total than that of the Anglo-
Saxon possessions. While as yet our population
is much greater, the disproportion is not likely to
be always so pronounced. Many motives move
us, therefore, to take an interest in the religious
as well as the political development of this ex-

1 Bishop Walden, Harpers M. M. 1890-91, p. 863.

The Pagans 17

tensive region whose future will be so closely
united with our own.

Our present purpose is to point out the various
factors which have played their part in the re-
ligious development of Latin America. If we
are to begin at the beginning we must first take
up the study of the beliefs and practices of the
pagan actors in this drama, who were already on
the stage when the curtain first rose before the ex-
pectant eyes of Europe.

There is more than one good reason why we
should begin with this early period. The very
antiquity of the pagan religions of the New World
arouses an interest similar to that awakened by
Egypt or ancient Babylon, by China or India ; and
we may add that such a study, leading us amid
the ruins of a once glorious past, intensifies our
interest in the present descendants of the old
pagan races who still people the land. Men with
Indian blood in their veins still form the bulk of
the population ; for in contrast to the annihilation
of the native races so extensive in the territory
which fell to the United States, the Indians of
Latin America were united in the closest relation-
ships of life with the Iberian colonists. Many In-
dians are also to be found but little if any re-
moved from the pagan state of their ancestors of
four centuries ago. And lastly, this study will
suggest certain close and curious parallels be-
tween the most highly developed of the heathen
cults and the ceremonies of Roman Catholicism
which superseded them; for the old heathenism

1 8 Needs of Latin America

has left its mark upon the papal church of Latin
America. For all these reasons it is worth while
to look first at the pagan races of the New World.
As already said, the history of our native races
reaches back into a dim and unknown past. Let
us make a rapid survey of the primitive in-^
habitants of America as they were four hundred
years ago. In the far, frozen north we see the
Esquimau clad in furs, giving chase to the seal
or polar bear, or, when wearied, crawling into
his snow-covered hut. There we shall leave him,
for he has nothing to do with the religious prob-
lems of Latin America. As our glance travels
southward it rests in turn upon innumerable tribes
of savage men, with different languages and tra-
ditions, yet much alike in color, features, mode of
life and range of thought. They dwell in low
huts or wigwams, now idle, now active in war or
the chase. They support life by hunting, fishing
or rude tillage of the soil. In some sections of
what is now the United States we are puzzled by
the sight of many mound-like structures, of regu-
lar or fantastic shapes, and often of great extent ;
but the Indian can only tell us vaguely of battles
with an earlier race who were defeated and dis-
appeared. In South America, along the Amazon
and the Plata, the native tribes are of a type
inferior to the red men of Cooper and Longfel-
low. They are not very susceptible of culture,
learn only under compulsion, and then only the
simplest elements of knowledge. In the far south

The Pagans 19

roam the Patagonians, so named for their big
feet, and long reputed to be the tallest of men.
In the mountain fastnesses of Chile the warlike
Araucanians refuse to be conquered by any force
sent against them, and win immortality thereby in
a famous Spanish Epic ; while in the cold, inclem-
ent region of Cape Horn, in the " land of fire,"
wander the scattered families of the repulsive
Fuegians.

The wants of these Indian peoples were few
and simple. The range of their intellectual vis-
ion extended but a short distance beyond that of
the senses. They had few or no words to express
abstract ideas, though quick to perceive what ap-
pealed to the senses, and gifted with a picturesque,
oratorical style of expression. They handed down
by tradition countless childish stories as to their
origin and history. Their code of morals recog-
nized many fundamental principles of right and
wrong ; and even the wild, degraded tribes of the
pampas punished as crimes murder, adultery,
theft and witchcraft. The individual was ex-
pected always to sacrifice personal interest to the
general welfare of his tribe, to be faithful to
friends, and to bear privation and pain with
stoical fortitude. The women were drudges. The
men were cruel in war and under the excitement
of strong drink. Cannibalism was practised by
many tribes, at least as a religious rite. All be-
lieved in a Great Spirit or Master of life, who
was beneficent in his activity ; and in one or more

ao Needs of Latin America

mischievous, malevolent deities who needed to be
propitiated with prayers and gifts.

" No people could be more religious than those
of this continent, for there was no act of any kind
in life, in which they were altogether free from
religious direction. The source of this religion is
in the myths, and in the explanation concerning
them given by wise men — in other words, by
sorcerers. . . . Primitive man in America,
stood, at every step, face to face with divinity, as
he knew or understood it. He could never escape
from the presence of those powers which had con-
stituted the first world, and which composed all
there was in the present one." *

A beautiful, though highly idealized picture of
the. Indian is to be found in "Hiawatha." The
hero is of superhuman origin, is a benefactor of
his tribe, introducing arts and agriculture. He
gains his power by fasting, or as the gift of ani-
mals and gods. On the arrival of the white man
his mission is ended, and he sails away into the
sunset, to the land of the Hereafter.

What I have seen in the homes of the aborig-
ines of Mexico, enables me the better to appre-
ciate this simple picture of the joys and sorrows
of Indian life. The atmosphere which envelopes
the actors is the poet's own delicate creation ; yet
the picture includes every element in the wild,
native life. It shows most beautifully,

Creation Myths of Primitive America, J. Curtin,
Intro, pp. xx, xxxvi.

The Pagans 11

" That in even savage bosoms
There are longings, yearnings, strivings,
For the good they comprehend not,
That the feeble hands and helpless,
Groping blindly in the darkness,
Touch God's right hand in that darkness,
And are lifted up and strengthened."

There is, of course, a darker side to the picture,
which it did not suit the poet's purpose to more
than hint at, but which the missionary, even at
this late day, must face in all its naked reality.
While true, as Paul wrote, that " the invisible
things of God, since the creation of the world, are
clearly seen, being perceived through the things
that are made " ; it is also true that, here as else-
where, the heathen, in spite of their belief in the
Great Spirit, the Master of Life, " exchanged the
truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served
the creature rather than the Creator."

There were, however, at the time of the con-
quest, tribes which had reached a higher degree
of culture. Covering the high table-lands of
Mexico, reaching out into Yucatan and Central
America, flowing across the Isthmus, and flood-
ing the narrow, yet lofty valleys of the Andes, we
find the so-called civilized pagan races of Amer-
ica. They attributed their civilization to mythical
culture heroes, fabled to have entered the land
from East and West, and these heroes were
deified by their grateful descendants as founders

a a Needs of Latin America

of the nations and introducers of the arts and
sciences.

Centuries before the advent of European con-
querors, they had subjugated many of the less
cultured tribes. Men were used in masses as
slaves and beasts of burden. What numbers,
rude implements, hard toil and a rudimentary art
could do, they accomplished. Huge blocks of
stone were moved by the united strength of great
bodies of men. Countless slaves reared great
pyramids, crowned by massive structures of earth
and stone; some of which still remain in spite of
the destructive violence of man and of tropical
nature. Whole cities were already in ruin, and
half hidden by the forest when the white man
first landed on these shores; and none could tell
the story of their downfall. Other cities yet stood
in all their glory, such as Mexico-Tenochtit-
lan; while south of the Isthmus could be traced,
for more than two thousand miles along the high
valleys of the Andes, the mighty roadway over
which the Inca hurried his troops to the remotest
corner of his long extended empire.

We shall not discuss the many theories as to
the origin of primitive American civilization. We
know not what impressions, if any, Norse and
Welsh discoverers left on the religious belief of
the Indians. Atlantis may once have risen above
the waves of the ocean; and Egypt may have
played a part in the Maya cultus. Probably
Chinese, Japanese, and Malays did cross the

The Pagans 23

Pacific on adventurous voyages or borne, against
their will, by the fateful currents of the ocean to
the shores of America. This fascinating specula-
tion takes us to Egypt and to Greece, to India,
China and Japan, to the islands of the Pacific,
even to Druidical Europe, to far off Iceland, to
Norway and to Wales. We are asked to follow
the ten tribes in their wanderings until America
is reached ; to listen to St. Thomas as he preaches
the gospel in the New World; to see with the
eyes of acute, yet credulous, priests, in nearly
every pagan rite, the blended traces of Judaism
and Christianity. Cholula, a pigmy at the base
of giant Popocatepetl, is gravely pointed out by
some writers as the tower of Babel. Eden
is located in Yucatan, where flourished, we are
told, the rival cities of Cain and Abel. After
every absurd speculation has been set aside
enough remains to show that the isolation of
America was by no means absolute. Neverthe-
less so slight and infrequent was the intercourse
between the Old and the New Worlds, that we
can rightly claim for our primitive races a unique
place in the religious history, of mankind. Here,
over a vast continent, nine thousand miles in
length, by more than three thousand in width at
its two broadest points, men wrestled, unaided by
our divine revelation, with the great problems of
human destiny; and we are curious to know the
nature and value of their religious beliefs, and
ceremonies.

$4 Needs of Latin America

A similar curiosity was felt by some of the eye-
witnesses of native rites and forms of worship.
It is customary to lament the wanton destruction,
by the iconoclastic founders of Roman Catholi-
cism, of many old documents, idols and archi-
tectural monuments. The best of the heathen
civilization found on this continent was wiped out
by a furious cyclone of religious zeal. The
ancient god of tempests, Hurukan, could not have
done the work more thoroughly had he fallen in
anger upon his children. Priests and friars saw
everywhere the handiwork and footprints of the
devil, and were not slow to mar his hated visage
as depicted in the hideous idols of the heathen.

A few foreigners such as Bernal Diaz and
Cortes, the scholarly, laborious Sahagun and
Sarmiento, and natives like Ixtlilxochitl, the Tex-
cocan, and the Inca Garcilasso, wrote down the
old histories and traditions. Some ancient picture
rolls, sculptured signs, idols and ruined cities still
remain to repay the study of the archaeologist.
Commentators on these original sources of infor-
mation are constantly multiplying. A thorough
study of the vast mass of material thus accumu-
lated might easily occupy a lifetime. In spite of
many contradictions in the various testimonies,
and the warping influence of the medium — con-
verted Indians and Roman Catholic ecclesiastics,
— the more scientific student of to-day can gain a
fairly clear idea of the religious beliefs of the

The Pagans 15

natives. This is especially true of the Aztecs and
the Incas.

Whatever hope there was for pagan America
in its primitive religions can justly be looked for
in Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztecs, and in
Cuzco, capital of the Incas of Peru. Both re-
ligions were in vigorous life at the time of their
overthrow by Pizarro and Cortes; and in both
we detect resemblances to Romanism which must
surely have made easier the transition from the
old to the new faith; and it is on these marked
resemblances that I would have you fix your at-
tention in what I shall further have to say about
these primitive religions.

Romanism, like paganism, has everywhere its
sacred shrines to which the devout make frequent
pilgrimages, especially at the time of the great
annual feasts. Papal America is full of just such
shrines to-day; Guadalupe, Copocobana, Ameca-
meca, and many others. In the same way, the
Holy City, the Mecca of pagan South America,
was Cuzco, capital of the great Inca empire which
stretched through thirty-seven degrees of lati-
tude. The government was theocratic, paternal,
socialistic. It enjoyed a kind and degree of suc-
cess which ought to claim the attention of modern
reformers of the same school. Then, as to-day,
the Indians dwelt in huts of sundried bricks or
reeds, the king and his gods in palaces of stone.
The Inca emperors and nobles, were of heavenly

26 Needs of Latin America

origin, the literal children of the sun. With true
missionary zeal, wherever their successful arms
won entrance, they introduced the worship of
their supreme deity with a more nicely adjusted
use of force and persuasion than was shown by
the followers of Mahomet, or the Spanish con-
querors of the New World. They were not, how-
ever, strictly speaking, monotheists; for the
national gods of conquered tribes were given a
place in their pantheon. In addition to the Sun
there was also a supreme, invisible, mysterious
god, worshipped in a shrine apart.

It is not, however, my purpose to describe in
detail the religious beliefs of the Incas, but
simply to point out the features which resemble
Romanism. These can best be studied at some
great festal gathering. Then, as to-day in all
that region, the mildness and monotony of pater-
nal absolutism was broken by frequent religious
festivals. The worship of the sun was the most
characteristic feature of their religious system.
Gold, — " the tears wept by the sun," — was sacred
to the Lord of day ; silver, by reason of its whiter
lustre, was consecrated to the moon, which rules
the night with paler radiance. The entire amount
of the precious metals drawn from the mines was
the property of the Incas, to be divided in a fixed
proportion between themselves and their gods.
This law gave the sacred caste an enormous
amount of gold and silver with which to decorate
their palaces and temples.

The Pagans 27

Shrines of varying size and splendor existed in
all parts of the empire. The oldest and most
sacred was located on an island in Lake Titicaca ;
but the most magnificent was in Cuzco, at the
heart of the empire. The descriptions of its splen-
dors read like fairy tales. They are not, how-
ever, incredible in view of the richness of the
mines and the limited use of the precious metals
for any other purpose.

No temple could well have been more gorgeous
than was Coricancha, "the place of gold."
Around the outside, a cornice of gold crowned
the solid stone structure; within, the walls and
ceiling were encrusted with plates of the yellow
metal. On the western wall was an immense
disc, representing a human face, set in rays of
light and thickly studded with precious stones.
The first rays of the rising sun falling upon this
bright visage, were dispersed in all directions,
caught and reflected by walls and ceiling, until
the shrine glowed with a dazzling and unearthly
splendor. The utensils used in the service of the
god, the very flowers and animals seen in the
temple gardens, were all of gold and silver. The
Incas used their Midas touch to dazzle and be-
wilder savage imaginations. So also the Roman
Catholic clergy. Many gorgeous descriptions
are still extant of the leading churches of Latin
America as they were in the days prior to
the struggle for religious liberty in which they
.were stripped of their wealth ; and should be care-

28 Needs of Latin America

fully read by all who would grasp the full signifi-
cance of the resemblances between the pagan and
papal temples.

A well organized army of priests was scattered
over the empire. The sovereign, as became a
theocracy, was head of the priesthood; and, on
certain occasions exercised priestly functions.
The priests owed their power to the popular be-
lief in their divine origin as children of the sun.

Every month was honored with one or more
feasts. Many such holidays are still observed,
although the names are now changed. The four
greatest of the ancient feasts were in honor of the
sun. The grandest was Raymi, held in June, the
time of their winter solstice. Crowds filled the
capital from all parts of the empire. For three
days no fire was allowed in any dwelling. All
fasted while the old sun was dying. At dawn of
the last day of the feast nobles and people in gala
costume, crowded the great public square and
greeted the new sun with wild music, shouts and
songs of victory. The day ended with much eat-
ing and drinking, with dancing and wild revels.
The liquor drunk and maize cakes eaten at this
festival seemed to the devout Spaniard a dia-
bolical imitation of the eucharist; and no one
who has been present at a modern Indian festival
in honor of some patron saint, can fail to see a
remarkable resemblance of another kind.

Turning now to Mexico, we are face to facq

The Pagans 29

with a civilization differing in many respects from
that of the Peruvians. The warlike spirit is very
strong. Tribal wars and rivalries are striking
features. No one tribe succeeded in subjugating
the whole country. Michoacan was independent
of Mexico; and Yucatan and Central America
were distinct from both. There were rivalries and
revolutions not unlike the restless changes so well
known in the history of the subsequent Latin-
American republics. Even the so-called Aztec
empire was ruled by three independent, allied
chiefs, those of Tlacopan, Texcoco and Tenoch-
titlan. At best the Aztec ruler was only first
among his equals.

Four causeways, along which tramcars run
to-day, connected the ancient city of Tenochtitlan
with the mainland. We shall enter from the
south, and hurry through the outlying wards of
the city, past the huts of the poor, the residences
of wealthy merchants and the palaces of the chief
and his nobles, to the southern entrance to the
great temple enclosure, which formed the heart
of the city. The present plaza de armas occupies
almost exactly the same site, and is still the politi-
cal and ecclesiastical centre of Mexican life. Four
gateways pierced the high, enclosing wall. As
we enter the southern gate our startled eyes first
rest upon a hideous Tzompantli, or " flag of
skulls," made of upright poles with cross bars on
which the grinning skulls of men sacrificed to
the idols were affixed. From this ghastly, giant

30 Needs of Latin America

abacus little Aztec boys could learn to count and
to harden their hearts in cruelty. We cross the
open square in which eight thousand of the faith-
ful together could dance the sacred dances, and
where distinguished captives fought for life on the
gladiatorial stone. We are now face to face with
the great teocalli. The smooth, stuccoed surface of
the pyramid rises to a height of ninety Mexican
feet. Both in front and rear the top is reached by
flights of one hundred and twenty steps of hewn
stone. On the north side of the ample summit are
two one story shrines; that on the East, which
is a little the taller, is sacred to Huitzilopochtli
the Aztec war-god; that on the West is the
sanctuary of Tlaloc, the god of rain. The south-
ern sides of the temples are enclosed by rich
embroidered curtains, behind which the images of
the gods are seated above a kind of altar. Much
of the gaudy, barbaric decoration of the images
and shrines had a symbolical significance. In
front of the temple were braziers which held the
sacred fire; receptacles into which were thrown
the palpitating hearts of the victims sacrificed;
and, near by, stood the flat or upright sacrificial
stones.

In other parts of the sacred square, each on its
own pyramid, were temples erected to the mysteri-
ous Tezcatlipoca, the moon-god, or god of death
and the underworld; to Cihuacoatl, the mother
of the gods, or earth goddess, known also by
many other names. Her temple was a veritable

The Pagans 31

pantheon, in which were ranged the images of all
the gods worshipped by the Aztecs. In the sanc-
tuary sacred to Totec the skins of flayed human
victims were kept. There was also a temple in
which the " eagle " and " tiger " warriors per-
formed their sacred rites in honor of the sun;
and the round sanctuary of Quetzalcoatl, so widely
known to-day as " the fair god."

Around the northern side of the enclosure were
built the residences of the priests, together with
the schools and convents where the youth of both
sexes were educated by the religious orders. The
great courtyard was practically an armed citadel.
The priests and their servitors made an army of
several thousand fighting men. Every city and
town of any size had a similar central square ; and
lesser sanctuaries were everywhere to be found,
as numerous and conspicuous as the Roman
Catholic churches and chapels of our day.

One of the images of Huitzilopochtli, is thus
described. " The god is seated on a blue bench,
from each corner of which there issues a great
snake. A crest, shaped like the beak of a bird,
adorns his head ; around his neck is a collar made
of ten figures of the human heart. In his right
hand he grasps a large blue twisted club; while
on his left arm hangs a shield set with five balls
of feathers in the form of a cross. From the
shield rises a golden flag with four arrows, sup-
posed to have fallen from heaven. The body of
the idol is adorned with animal figures made of

32 Needs of Latin America

gold and precious stones, and begirt by a large,
golden snake."1 Before many similar symbolical
figures of saints and madonnas the devout In-
dian to-day prostrates himself in benighted papal
America, some of them almost equally hideous.

Both religions delight the faithful with curious
stories of their images. Listen at the shrine of
Huitzilopochtli while the priest tells you how a
devout woman, Coatlicue (serpent skirt) was one
day in the temple of Coatepec (serpent hill) when
she saw a ball of beautiful feathers floating to-
ward her out of heaven. She stuck the ball in
her girdle, it disappeared and she found herself
with child. Her sons and only daughter, to
avoid the shame of their mother's supposed dis-
honor, determined to kill her. Then a voice from
her womb cried out : " Fear not, oh my mother,
for this danger will I turn to our great honor and
glory." At the word, like Athene, full armed
from the head of Zeus, Huitzilopochtli leapt forth
and stood with glittering spear and shield before
the would-be murderers of his mother. On his
head and left leg were green feathers; while, his
face and arms and thighs were painted with blue
stripes. With a war-shout he rushed upon and
slew his miserable brethren, and earned his name,
" The Terrible."

Much of the symbolism in this description iden-
tifies Huitzilopochtli with the life-giving forces

1 H. H. Bancroft, Native Races.

The Pagans 33

of nature. Three annual feasts were celebrated in
his honor, and special festivals were held in every
fourth, thirteenth and fifty-second year. In May,
an image of the god was made of edible plants
and honey, before which young men and maidens
prayed for rain and fertile fields. Virgins adorned
with dried leaves, and carrying split reeds, sym-
bols of drouth, danced before this image. The
priests who took part, carried staves ornamented
with plumes and feather-flowers, and smeared
their faces with honey, to symbolize quickened
nature.

In December, the god, identified with natural
forces then dormant, was thought of as dying.
This calls to mind the commemoration of the
birth of Mithras, the unconquerable sun. A life-
size image of the god was made of various seeds
and grains mixed with the blood of sacrificed
children. It was placed in the temple and conse-
crated. The faithful stuck costly offerings into
the soft substance. Then followed a procession
in which a huge snake was borne and human sac-
rifices were offered. The next day the image
was pierced with a dart by a priest of Quetzal-
coatl. The heart was torn out and given to the
king ; and the men of the city ate the body. This
was the famous " eating of the god " so sugges-
tive to the Romish priests of the holy communion.
Images of the rain god Tlaloc were also eaten
at his festival held at the same season of the
year.

34 Needs of Latin America

Seeds and grains are food, and the source
of life for new harvests. The faithful, by eating
them in this manner, signified their desire to par-
ticipate in the life of the god and to see nature
awake from its winter sleep. The snake was a
symbol of healing and productive power.

There was also a mythical tribal culture hero
called Huitziton with whom the god was identi-
fied. In time his attributes as nature deity were
swallowed up in his character as tribal war god,
the fiercest and most sanguinary of all the Ameri-
can gods, the terrible shedder of blood in war and
sacrifice.

Even greater interest attaches for us to the
legends which tell of Quetzalcoatl ; now so widely
known through Lew Wallace's book, " The Fair
God." The name is compounded of two words,
quetzal, a beautiful bird, and coatl, snake. It is
variously translated Bird-Snake, Feathered Ser-
pent, or Beautiful Serpent. Kukulkan and Gucu-
matz are similar names for a similar deity among
the Mayas of Yucatan and the Quiches of Central
America.

Quetzalcoatl also had a miraculous birth. His
mother, Chimalma, one day found a green stone
or chalchihuite by which, to her surprise, she be-
came pregnant, and in time gave birth to the god.
The legends describe him as a strong man, of
broad forehead and expressive eyes, long black
hair and a fair complexion. His image is a man

The Pagans 35

with a bird's head. He first ruled in Tollan,
whence he was driven to Cholula. His worship
also extended into Yucatan. He led an ascetic
life, taught the arts and agriculture, and worked
the mines. Wherever he went he introduced a
reign of peace, prosperity and plenty. He had
great wealth and splendid palaces, and was al-
ways attended by song birds.

The god Tezcatlipoca, was his bitter enemy.
This deity assumed, from time to time, strange
disguises ; mingled among the people and alienated
them from their benefactor. To Quetzalcoatl
himself he gave a drink which unhinged his mind
and filled him with insane unrest. Under its in-
fluence he destroyed his palaces and began his
pilgrimage. Attended by the song birds he
wandered East and South. He wrought many
marvels. The stones he hurled at a tree remained
embedded in the wood; the rock on which he sat
bore ever afterwards the impress of his hands and
body; the mountain smitten by him was cleft in
twain. At last he reached the seashore, and sailed
away to Tlapallan on a raft of entwined snakes,
promising to return and renew his benign
sway.

The enmity of Tezcatlipoca is said to signify
the opposition of that more sanguinary cult. As
the priests of the god were also called Quetzal-
coatl, and some of them were probably reformers,
a real historical element is also supposed to lie

36 Needs of Latin America

at the base of some of the stories. There is also
an identification with Huemac, the mythical cul-
ture hero of the Toltecs ; but, back of all this, we
have the deification of natural forces.

Quetzalcoatl, for one thing, is the evening star,
born at twilight, of the warm embrace of earth
and sun. According to this interpretation the
conflict with Tezcatlipoca is a reference, in highly
poetical imagery, to the struggles between the
evening star and the moon, in which the stronger
light of the latter conquers.1 Miiller, on the other
hand, interprets this constantly renewed struggle,
as a reference to the conflict of the seasons, of
cold and heat. Tezcatlipoca, the god of the
gloomy underworld, of darkness, drouth and
death, in the disguise of winter, drives the warm
zephyrs and all the benign influences of the at-
mosphere southward. The song birds accompany
the banished Quetzalcoatl, who, however, will re-
turn in due season. When it is said that he sweeps
the road before Tlaloc, the rain god, it is meant
that the spring winds bring rain and thus awaken
nature to new life. The crosses on Quetzalcoatl's
white robe were symbols of the four movements
of the evening star, or of rain.

How much the ordinary worshipper knew and
understood of all this symbolism, I have failed
to discover. It is a curious fact that, in the six-

1 Alfredo Chavero in vol. i of " Mexico atraves de los
Siglos."

The Pagans 37

teenth century, the legend of the god's return had
taken an historical form, and this fact explains,
in part, the favor with which the white invaders
were received. It was as nearly a prophecy as
any such coincidence could well be; and herein
resides for us the mystery and charm of the fair
god Quetzalcoatl.

Without entering further into details, we can
generalize by saying that, of the countless gods of
pagan America, some had close affinity with ani-
mals and plants, were regarded as the progenitors
of the tribe, or gifted with superhuman powers.
Some were identified with the forces which pro-
duce the changing seasons of the year, heat and
cold, moisture and productivity. Special groups
of deities cluster about the four heavenly bodies :
sun, moon, evening star and earth; and about
the four elements — earth, air, fire and water. Fire
was identified with creative power. The New,
like the Old World had its sun worshippers, while
earth was the all-mother. Back of all was a
deity, often identified with the sun, or Tezcatli-
poca, or some other local god, spoken of as " He
through whom we live," " The Lord of our flesh,"
" He who is all things through himself." Perhaps
this means that some thoughtful priests were
pantheists; although the people at large were
gross idolaters.

The presence of the cross in the symbolism of
the aborigines of America has occasioned much
discussion. Its significance is, however, radically

38 Needs of Latin America

different from that of the Christian cross. The
famous cross of Cozumel, which, by the way, is
a crucifix, placed side by side with genuine New
World crosses, is at once seen to belong to a radi-
cally different class. Its origin is explained in a
Catholic report against idol worshippers, written
by Dr. Pedro Sanchez de Aguilar, of Merida,
and published in Madrid in 1639.

The report states that Cortes, on his way to
Mexico, found Jerome of Aguilar on the island
of Cozumel, and that he planted a cross there and
commanded the natives to worship it. In 1604
Gov. Diego Fernandez de Velasco removed this
cross. A pagan priest, Chilan Cambal, inspired
by the sight of it, composed after the event a
" prophetic " poem, in the native language,
making reference to the advent of the conqueror.
Some ten years later the adelantado Monti jo, who
conquered the peninsula, found the cross and the
poem, and took it for granted that the former was
an Indian relic and that the poem was a prophecy.
This explanation throws light on many other
stories which contain elements interwoven after
the arrival of the Spaniards.

The New World cross had its own well de-
fined meaning. In fact it had various uses, which
in time came to be blended. The line which con-
nects the equinoxes will intersect that which joins
the solsticial points and thus form a cross or
Nahui Ollin, " four movements." Similar crosses
represent the movements of the moon and even-

The Pagans 39

ing star. The cross was a symbol of all these
heavenly bodies and of the changing seasons so
intimately connected with the movements of the
sun. It also stood for the sun considered as the
cause of life; and was used to represent long
chronological periods.

Phallic worship was also practised by the Mayas
and Quiches. This was represented by a cruci-
form tree of life which signified generative power.
This figure is pictured in both the Vatican and
Vienna codices. The two ideas were combined
in the famous cross of Palemke. There are two
human figures, one on the right, the other on the
left, of the cross ; one is offering a child, probably
for sacrifice. The arms of the cross are formed
of four chronographic signs. The whole is said
to represent a period of 8,000 years, and was
" sacred to the sun as the great creative power,
to the year as the producer of the rains, and to
the maximum period of time.1

The most striking features in the religious life
of the people can best be brought out by a study
of the pagan priesthood. This will suggest a new
set of comparisons between the ancient practices
and those of Romanism.

The wild tribes, as already stated, had their
sorcerers and medicine men. The Inca religion
had its priestly caste. In Mexico and Central

1W. W. Blake. The Cross, Ancient and Modern, p.
39. Also Chavero, vol. i, Mex. At. de los Siglos.

40 Needs of Latin America

America the priests formed a numerous and pow-
erful class. Often warriors as well as priests,
they ruled by force of might as well as by divine
right; and in this there is a remote suggestion
of the soldier bishops of medieval Europe.

The priest, dressed in short black mantle or long
black robe ; with uncut, unkempt hair, was as con-
spicuous a figure as the Roman Catholic monk or
priest of a generation ago in Mexico, or to-day in
Ecuador. The learning and religious lore of the
nation was the almost exclusive possession of the
priests, as were the arts of divining and popular
education. The priests had two means of sup-
port ; their share of the tribute paid by conquered
tribes, and the gifts of the faithful. The common
people worked without remuneration when neces-
sary, on the temple buildings.

The heathen priest of the ancient civilized
races played an important part in every event in
the lives of the people, from the cradle to the
grave. Mr. Chavero lays great and repeated
stress on this fact. It is a logical conclusion from
every description of their office which I have read.
Just as the power of the keys, baptismal regenera-
tion, the confessional, penance and purgatory, the
mass, extreme unction, and indulgences, give the
Romish clergy a sure hold on the will of the
faithful; so also, though in a less degree, the
peculiar rites of paganism put the people in the
power of their priests.

The birth of a child of noble or wealthy

The Pagans 41

parents was an occasion for feasting, speech-
making, purifying washings, prayers and sundry
symbolical rites in which the midwife was a
chief actor. Sahagun tells us that the midwife
thus addressed the newborn child : " Thou wast
created in that house which is the abode of the
supreme gods that are above the nine heavens.
Thou art a gift from our son Quetzalcoatl, the
omnipresent, be joined to thy mother Chalchi-
huitlicue (the goddess of water.) " Touching
the child's lips with moistened fingers, she added :
" Take this, for upon it thou hast to live, to wax
strong and flourish ; by it we obtain all necessary
things, take it." Touching the breast she con-
tinued : " Take this holy and pure water that thy
heart may be cleansed." Pouring water on the
infant's head she exclaimed : " Receive, oh my
son, the water of the lord of the world, which is
our life ; with which we wash and are clean. May
this celestial, light-blue water enter into thy body
and there remain. May it destroy and remove
from thee all evil and adverse things that were
given thee before the beginning of the world.
Behold, all of us are in the hands of Chalchi'huit-
licue, our mother." * In the same strain she con-
tinued until the elaborate washing was ended.

The priestly augurs were also called in to cast
the horoscope of the child in accordance with
signs dependent on the day and hour of his birth.

1 H. H. Bancroft's translation.

41 Needs of Latin America

If the signs were unlucky, they alone knew how
to avert the threatened disaster. As human na-
ture is the same everywhere, and fear makes men
liberal, those on whom the fate of the child was
supposed to depend were of course liberally re-
warded.

Boys and girls of the middle and upper classes
were educated by the priests in convent schools.
The laboring class, then, as until quite recent
days, were left in ignorance, as not worth in-
structing. The school was a house of penance
and of prayer. The students rose at midnight to
pray and prick their flesh with sharp thorns.
Fasts were frequent. All this was endured partly
to win divine favor, and partly to acquire that
stoicism under suffering on which the American
Indian justly prides himself. Instruction was
given in sacred rites, music and dancing, in de-
portment, hieroglyphic writing, and the arts of
war. The native race is still very ceremonious
and is even more given to speech-making than the
Yankee. Future preferment for the boys, or an
advantageous marriage for the girls, would often
depend on the favor of their priestly instructors.
Rich presents were given when the pupil entered
and when he left the school; and policy often
made men devout when no higher motive would
move them.

On leaving school the young men and women
were married. The whole ceremony was tedious.
There were endless banquets, gifts and speeches.

The Pagans 43

Marriage was held in high honor, but, side by
side with it, concubinage and worse forms, of vice
were more than tolerated. The priestly augur
could as a rule prevent any marriage not to the
advantage of his order, by an unfavorable inter-
pretation of the combined birth signs of the man
and woman. The diviners were also expected to
indicate an auspicious day for the marriage. The
knot was very literally tied by tying the man's
mantle to the woman's dress. Four days were
next passed in prayer and penance before the mar-
riage was actually consummated. Then, at last,
the priest conducted the weary pair to the nuptial
chamber, and on the following day they made a
present of all its rich furnishings to the temple.
It still costs money to be suitably married by the
church in Latin America; and with apparently
the same result now as then, that the ceremony
is frequently dispensed with as too troublesome
and expensive.

At every step in the business of life, the mer-
chant and the warrior, the two mainstays of the
state, were called upon to celebrate religious
feasts, often of a very expensive character, and to
propitiate the gods by their gifts. After death
the soul could be helped along its terrible journey
by certain religious acts on the part of the living ;
just as devout Romanists still try to shorten the
stay of deceased relatives in purgatory.

The religious feasts probably gave the priests
their greatest hold on this pleasure-loving people.

44 Needs of Latin America

The year was divided into eighteen months of
twenty days each, followed by five useless or un-
lucky days. The month contained four weeks of
five days, and every fifth day was a market day.
Ozumba, only forty-five miles from Mexico City,
is one of the points in which this ancient custom
is still observed. Every month had one or more
religious holidays. There was also a sacred year of
260 days, divided into twenty months of thirteen
days each; and this arrangement added other
movable feasts to the religious calendar. The
religious holidays of the Roman Catholic Church
have but served to perpetuate the primitive tend-
ency to undue idleness and dissipation, under a
cloak of religious observance. It must have been
hard for a truly devout man to find time for
steady work under either system.

In all the festivals the same elements recur,
namely, the preliminary fast, the festal ban-
quet, self-torture, the sacrifice of animal and hu-
man victims, the eating of human flesh as a re-
ligious rite, sacred dances and processions, the
use of flowers, feathers and other gay or sombre
trappings, and set prayers and speeches, learned
by rote.

Among the human victims there was one who
was selected days, months, or even a year before
the feast. He was trained and dressed to repre-
sent the god in whose honor the celebration was
held, treated with divine honors, and given every-
thing that could minister to his enjoyment. These

The Pagans 45

victims were slaves or captives taken in war.
Men, women and even little children were sacri-
ficed. Some were flayed and the priests dressed
in the cast-off skin. Some were thrown into
blazing fires. As a rule the heart was extracted
and offered to the god. The body was then taken
away and eaten. A maiden was sacrificed to the
cruel mother goddess ; and children were killed at
the springs of water. While human sacrifices
were more or less common in all America, they
reached a frightful number, if report is to be
credited, during the last days of Aztec domina-
tion.

The devout worshipper relied upon self-torture
to ward off the ills of life; and upon a kind of
confession which also freed him from criminal
prosecution, and which suggests the medieval rite
of asylum. It was a faith in penance, good works
and priestly absolution, very similar to the spirit-
ual attitude of the average Roman Catholic in all
that region to-day.

The laws recognized the ordinary crimes
against the individual and the state. Many dis-
tinctions between right and wrong were clearly
perceived. A sense of sin was quite pronounced
if we may trust the translation of the ancient
prayers which have been handed down to our
day. The advice given to rulers on their induc-
tion into office was good. The exhortations of
a father to his sons, which have been preserved,
while lacking in that spiritual element which

46 Needs of Latin America

characterizes true Christianity, are full of whole-
some counsel. The father begins by lamenting
the worthlessness of his sons, expresses his fears
that they will not maintain the honor of the
family, nor follow his own worthy example. He
urges them to learn some trade or profession, to
be diligent in business and faithful in the religi-
ous observances, such as prayer, fasting, sacred
music, songs and dances, and by all the means in
their power to win the favor of the gods. He
ends as follows : " A few more words only will
I add that have been handed down to us from our
forefathers. Firstly, I counsel you to propitiate
the gods who are invisible and impalpable, giving
them your whole soul and body. Look to it that
you are not puffed up with pride, that you are
neither obstinate, nor of a weak, vacillating mind,
but take heed to be meek and humble and to put
your trust in the gods, lest they visit your trans-
gressions upon you; for from them nothing can
be hidden, they punish how and when they please.

" Secondly, my sons, endeavor to live at peace
with your fellow-men. Treat all with deference
and respect ; if any speak ill of you, answer them
not again ; be kind and affable to all, yet converse
not too freely with any; slander no man; be pa-
tient, returning good for evil; and the gods will
amply avenge your wrongs.

" Lastly, my children, be not wasteful of your
goods, nor of your time, for both are precious;
at all seasons pray to the gods and take counsel

The Pagans 47

with 'them; be diligent about those things that
are useful. I have spoken enough, my duty is
done. Peradventure you will forget or take no
heed to my words. As you will. I have done
my duty, let him profit by my discourse who
chooses." *

The whole system is full of unexpected con-
tradictions. We find a legal code with many ex-
cellent laws, many expressions of a sense of sin
in the recorded prayers, much politeness in social
intercourse, and a child-like love of diversion,
elegant speeches, costly banquets, great skill in
hieroglyphic writing and chronological calcula-
tions ; but all marred by a gross and cruel idola-
try.

See the so-called Aztec emperor and his guests
at the dedication of the great Mexican teocalli,
cutting out human hearts until too tired to cut
any longer. See the springs of water annually
dyed red with the blood of tender babes. Look
in on priest and people at their cannibalistic or-
gies, the succulent upper joint sent to the chief.
Viewed thus, paganism stands forth repulsive in
its naked reality. From this point of view it pre-
sents only contrasts with Romanism, by whose
missionaries these cruelties were denounced in
no measured terms.

The people probably did not look at it from
this standpoint. Their sensibilities were blunted.

1 Sahagtm, quoted in Nat. Races, vol. Hi, pp. 249, 250.-

48 Needs of Latin America

They enjoyed, as do their descendants to-day,
the flowers and feasting. The gaudy temples,
painted idols, solemn processions, sacred chants,
the doleful beat of the temple drums — as noisy
perhaps as the constant clanging of bells in
Catholic America, — the stately, sensuous dances
for which priest and people carefully trained, the
choruses of white-robed virgins moving mysteri-
ously about the temple precincts, the awe-inspir-
ing penitential life of the priests who took care
to exhibit on the temple walls the bloody instru-
ments of their self-torture, their dress, now se-
vere, now showy; all made it impossible to long
forget the priesthood while it served to strengthen
their hold upon the people.

If this study has aroused your interest in the
present descendants of the ancient races, then are
we ready to draw our practical lessons in refer-
ence to the problem which to-day confronts the
missionary in Latin America. Bear in mind the
distinction made between the less advanced tribes
and the civilized races in the descriptions given
of their religious systems. The study of the more
highly developed systems, such as that of the
Incas in Peru, and the Aztecs of Mexico, makes
plain one reason at least for the easy transition
from pagan to papal control.

We have no desire to give undue weight to the
resemblances between the heathen system and its
Roman Catholic successor; yet we cannot fail to

The Pagans 49

see that resemblances did exist, and the Roman
Catholic missionaries were the first to discover
them, so that the devout Romanist can hardly
blame us for following in their footsteps. I do
not, however, lay stress upon the kind of resem-
blances which most attracted the attention of the
early priests and monks, at which they wondered,
and which they generally attributed to the mali-
cious astuteness of the devil. Quetzalcoatl was not
St. Thomas, nor is there any proof that this apos-
tle preached in America. The hieroglyphics
which were supposed to refer to Noah and his
flood are simply a part of the picture history of
Aztec wanderings. The pyramid of Cholula was
not the tower of Babel. The supposed references
to the sun of Joshua and the darkness at the time
of the crucifixion are based on wild chronological
guesses. The resemblances to Christian baptism
and Jewish circumcision, to the Lord's Supper,
to Romish confirmation, penance and confession
in certain heathen rites, while curious and in-
structive, were only partial, and at the most, only
show that the human conscience, when groping
in the darkness, tries to express its sense of sin
and weakness, its longing for pardon, purification
and divine support, in some outward rite. Such
parallels can be found in other heathen religions,
and they do but show the naturalness of a sym-
bolism which has been so universally employed.
The resemblances on which special emphasis
should be laid are not in creed, but in method.

50 Needs of Latin America

They have nothing to do with what is of the es-
sence of Christianity, but with those additions
made by Romanism which have served to increase
the wealth and power of the church, and give well
nigh absolute control to the priesthood over the
heart and conscience of the people. Both systems
reveal keen political insight and a deep under-
standing of human nature.

In the transition from the old to the new eccles-
iastical control there were, of course, many real
conversions. For the majority of the Indians,
however, it was simply a transfer of allegiance
from one set of priests to another. Once force of
arms had proved the Catholic saints and soldiers
to be the stronger, the Indian, except when he wor-
shipped his old idols in secret, simply abandoned
them for the God and saints of Romanism; the
bloody sacrifice of the old worship for the blood-
less sacrifice of the mass. He still bowed before
images, only now of Christ, the Virgin Mother
and the saints. He still had penance and confes-
sion, processions, fasts and feasts, convent schools
and religious holidays. In what I shall have to
say of Roman Catholic missions, these points,
together with the bodily transfer of heathen ele-
ments into Romish feasts, will be taken up again.
Ponder, however, this fact, that it was where
paganism had reached its highest ceremonial de-
velopment that Romanism won its largest ac-
quisitions. Has this fact no significance?

The second reason for attaching value to this

The Pagans 51

study, is the fact that, in Latin America, pagan
Indians are still to be numbered by hundreds of
thousands, even by millions. The best elements
of the pagan civilization were destroyed or
adapted to Romish uses; the cruder forms still
survive in unexplored and inaccessible regions, or
even side by side with Romanism, in places which,
after four centuries, are still untouched, or only
slightly influenced, by Christianity even in its Ro-
man Catholic form.

Take Mexico as our first example. According
to the census of 1875, there were three and a half
millions of Indians in that republic, aside from
millions more of mixed race. These Indians live
in some degree of isolation from the rest of the
people, even when mingling with them in the mar-
ket place and on the street. Many inhabit the
most remote and inaccessible mountain regions. A
Mexican statesman, the Hon. Matias Romero, so
long Mexico's minister to the United States, says :
" The Mexican Indians are on the whole a hard-
working, sober, moral and enduring race, and,
when educated, they produce very distinguished
men. Some of our most prominent public men in
Mexico, like Jaurez as a statesman, and Morelos
as a soldier, were pure-blooded Indians ; and for-
tunately there is no prejudice against their race in
Mexico, and so, when they are educated, they are
accepted in marriage amongst the highest fami-
lies of pure Spanish blood." And he might have
added that Altamirano, known in Mexican literary

5 2 Needs of Latin America

circles as the Master, was an Indian from Tixtla,
Guerrero.

Mr. Romero also describes the life of the In-
dians. He says : " I have been a great deal among
them, and my knowledge of their characteristics
only increases my sympathy and admiration for
them. In the state of Oaxaca, for instance, where
I spent the early years of my life, I have seen
Indians from the mountain districts, who, when
they had to go to the capital, especially to carry
money, would form parties of eight or ten to make
a ten days' round trip, carrying with them their
food, which consists of roasted ground corn,
which they take three times a day, stopping at a
brook to mix it with water and sleeping on the
bare ground, preferring always the open air ; get-
ting up before daylight and starting on their jour-
pey at daybreak, immediately after their early
meal, speaking no Spanish and travelling about
forty miles a day. When they reached the city
of Oaxaca they would remain there one or two
days, and go back to their homes without taking
part in any dissipation. They prefer to live in
the high, cool localities, and they have their patch
of ground to raise corn and a few vegetables in
the hot lowlands, sometimes thirty miles away
from their homes, and carry their crops on their
backs for all that distance. They make very
good soldiers, and military leaders have used them
to great advantage during our revolutions." *

1 Mexico and the United States, p. 75.

The Pagans 53

My own experience in the Indian villages where
we have work agrees with these statements, ex-
cept that on feast days, I have seen the Indians
make too free use of intoxicants and exhibit too
great a love for gambling.

The religious destitution of these millions of
aborigines is admitted by Mr. Romero. He says :
"It is true that a great many Mexicans, namely,
the Indians, do not know much about religion and
keep to their old idolatry, having changed only
their idols, that is, replaced their old deities with
the images of the saints of the Catholic Church,
but it would be difficult for the Protestant mis-
sionaries to reach them. The Spaniards labored
zealously to make the natives adopt the Catholic
religion, and although they succeeded wonder-
fully, it was a task too difficult to be fully accom-
'plished in the three centuries of the Spanish domi-
nation in Mexico." And we may add that, under
the Republic, the priests have done even less.
Thus, among the Indians of Mexico, there is a
mass of heathenism, in fact, if not in name, which
invites the labors of the Protestant teacher and
preacher ; and the same is true in Central America.

If now we turn to Brazil and Spanish South
America we find the heathenism and destitution
of the Indians to be even more appalling. In
Brazil the milder Indian races which inhabited
the warm, low-lying coast belt were either de-
stroyed, enslaved, absorbed by marriage into the
mixed race, or driven back into the interior where

54 Needs of Latin America

the native races are still to be found in a savage
state, roaming over vast plains, or through the
forests, or steering their canoes along the many
miles of waterway. Especially is this true in the
Amazonian region, not unlike a lake set thick
with islands, which was until recent years prac-
tically inaccessible to the Portuguese owners of
the soil.

The Indians of the interior are known to the
Portuguese as gentios, or heathen. Reports con-
cerning them are not very encouraging. One
writer says : " The savages south of the equator
have all been found to be exceedingly deficient in
any religious idea. None of them, when first
visited, seemed to have the faintest conception of
the Great Spirit." It is added: "Attempts to
civilize them have proved abortive, except when
they are held in a state of pupilage, as they were
by the Jesuits, or under the rigid discipline of the
Brazilian army."

Half a century ago a minister of the empire
reported but nineteen thousand Christian, that is,
Roman Catholic, Indians. In 1898 Mr. W. A.
Cooke was sent to the Cherentes of Goyaz by
the Christian Alliance. He found that " the In-
dians had taken over all of the vices, but few of
the virtues of the white man. The monks," he
says, " have had nominal charge of them for
many years, but instead of Christianizing the poor
pagans, they have only succeeded in paganizing a
few Christian ceremonies."

The Pagans 55

The historical Sketch of Presbyterian Mis-
sions has this significant statement : " Over
against the bright picture of work successfully
done through God's blessing, there still stands
the dark picture of the many states in which
no representative of our church holds up the
standard of the Cross, and darker still, the view
of that vast territory occupied by the Indians
where no Christian denomination has ever en-
tered with the Word of Life. The Indians
have undisputed possession of four-fifths of Bra-
zil, and their number is variously estimated from
600,000 to 2,000,000. Dr. Couto Magalhaes,
an accepted authority, believes them to number
about one million. That they are accessible to
missionary workers is evidenced by the fact that
one chief travelled a thousand miles to Sao Paulo
to beg of the missionaries that some one be sent
to teach his people. Here we have, lying at our
door, a pagan territory equal in size to the whole
of Europe, with one million souls ignorant of
Christ's love and salvation, neglected and appar-
ently forgotten by God's people, and their cry for
help unheeded by the church." x

To Brazil must be added the interior regions
of Spanish South America; of Venezuela, Col-
ombia, Ecuador and Peru, the plains of Argen-
tina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Patagonia; the
mountains of Chile and the colder regions in the

1897, P. 322.

56 Needs of Latin America

far south; making a total pagan population esti-
mated at from four to five million.

Not to refer to older works which make similar
statements, let me cite the testimony of two little
books of recent date. One is called " South
America, the Neglected Continent ; " the other,
"South America— The Dark Continent." The
former contains a map of South America which
paints the whole interior black, with no ray of
light from any missionary station in the heart of
the continent. The latter contains some recent
articles and addresses of Rev. Emilio Olsson, for
seventeen years an evangelist in South America.
He says: " The interior of South America is not
known to the civilized world. Truly Central
Africa is better known to Christian nations than
Central South America." " My travels," he says,
" have covered over fifty thousand miles, 3,000 of
which I have made on muleback and horseback,
and much of it on foot, always carrying my Bi-
bles. To forty-two different nationalities arid
tribes I have presented the Word of God, and I
have reached, with the gospel, over one million
souls. Six times have I crossed the great Andes ;
have visited many places where hardly a white
man had ever been before, and encountered nu-
merous tribes unknown to the civilized world;
and altogether my journey ings from Patagonia to
the Amazon, and along its tributaries, might be
compared to those of Stanley and Livingstone in
Darkest Africa. Truly Darkest Africa is better

The Pagans 57

known to-day than darkest South America, our
sister continent. I have journeyed 3,000 miles
through the interior without meeting a single
Protestant missionary." Mr. Olsson also de-
scribes the paganism of many tribes of that vast
interior.

Friends, the pagan Indians of Latin America
make their appeal to the Protestant missionary
churches of our more favored land. What Romish
missions failed to do, shall we be able to perform ?

In the third place, this glance at pagan beliefs
is of value because it involves a study of Indian
character, and thus enables us to understand better
the masses of mixed race who still form the bulk
of the population, — the typical Latin American
race of to-day. They are proud of their Indian
blood, and magnify the greatness of their ancient
civilizations. We can but hint at the many aspects
of the question. We find still, for example, the
same general attitude toward life, the same heroic
fortitude, the same love of diversions, the same
willingness to make incredible sacrifices for some
splendid display that shall be remembered with a
thrill of pride to the end of life, the same sensitive
pride and generous hospitality, the same import-
ance attached to the endless formalities of social
intercourse, the same tendency to be satisfied with
formalism in religion. In all these respects the
Latin American of mixed race receives a similar
inheritance from his Indian and his Iberian an-
cestors.

58 Needs of Latin America

Our study of this problem suggests still another
important truth, often of vital importance. The
American missionary, in his full hearted enthu-
siasm, does not always take time to understand
the people whose good will he desires to win.
Only good can result from a study of native char-
acter and traditions similar to that herein sug-
gested. The Anglo-Saxon, when he crosses to
the south of the Rio Grande, is introduced into a
new atmosphere, is brought face to face with cus-
toms and habits against which he at first is in-
clined to rebel. The social code is somewhat dif-
ferent, and the mental attitude is different. The
missionary, if a student of human nature, soon
begins to recognize differences in many subtle
but significant details. To succeed among the
sensitive, ceremoniously polite descendants of the
Latin and the Indian peoples, we must distin-
guish between our Americanism and Christianity,
and try to adapt ourselves to our surroundings
in that good sense in which Paul became " all
things to all men, if by any means he might win
some."

In the last place, I hope that our present study
has also made plain the encouraging fact that re-
ligion was a large part of the primitive Ameri-
can's life. He was devout as a pagan ; he is de-
vout to-day as a Roman Catholic ; he will be, and
in many instances already is, equally devout as a
Protestant, evangelical Christian.

Lecture II— THE PAPISTS

"Peace be with you and your people,
Peace of prayer and peace of pardon,
Peace of Christ and joy of Mary.

Then the Black-Robe Chief, the prophet,
Told his message to the people,
Told the purport of his mission,
Told them of the Virgin Mary,
And her blessed Son, the Saviour.

And the chiefs made answer, saying:
* We have listened to your message,
We have heard your words of wisdom,
We will think on what you tell us,
It is well for us, O brothers,
That you came so far to save us/ "

—Hiawatha

59

Synopsis of Lecture II

INTRODUCTORY. — Glorious age for Spain and Portugal. —
Rapid conquest and colonization of New World. — Three
factors aided missionaries. — First, the conquerors and
colonists. — Lust for gold. — Crusaders in a holy war. —
Banner of Cortes. — Second factor, the mixed race. — Roman
Catholic by inheritance. — Third factor, acceptance of
Romanism by conquered Indians. — Reasons.

Dominicans as defenders of the Indians. — Las Casas. —
Bull of Paul III.

I. MISSIONARIES AND THEIR METHODS. — Arrival and
spread. — Heroism of monks and priests. — Franciscans,
Dominicans, Jesuits most prominent.

Their method. i. Destruction. — Cozumel. — Tabasco. —
Prescott's comment. — Las Casas on idols in Cuzco. — Man-
cera in New Granada. — Children as iconoclasts. — The
Omar of New Spain.

a. Construction. — Roman Catholic temples and convents.
— Franciscan church and convent, Mexico City. — Cathedral
and monastery in Cuzco.— Cathedral, Mexico City. — Ex-
travagance of religious orders. — Relays of Indian work-
men.— Churches often fortresses. — Power of missionaries
over Indians.

3. Instruction. — Kind and degree. — Letter of Pedro
Gante, 1529. — Of Bishop Zumarraga, 1531. — Children
taught to read, write and sing. — Compulsory attendance on
services. — System of mnemonics. — Text-books and printing
presses. — Defects of system. — Indians remained ignorant. —
Still practised old idolatries.

Jesuit missions. — Reductions in Paraguay. — Failure
among fierce tribes of pampas.— Success with milder Guara-
nies. — Rudimentary education. — Jesuits the Manco Capacs
of Paraguay. — Fear of their political power cause of de-
struction.— Indians return to savage life.

II. WEALTH AND POWER OF THE CHURCH. — Union of
Church and State. — Some conspicuous features.

1. The religious feasts. — Unworthy features. — Imitators
of Demetrius. — Good Friday in Rip de Janeiro. — Passion
Play in Mexico. — Copocobana, Bolivia. — Guadalupe, Mexico.

2. The Inquisition. — Not used against Indians. — Number
of processes in Mexico. — Description of auto-de-fe by eye-
witness.— Patriot Morelos last victim in Mexico, 1815.

3. The Saints. — Popular biographies. — Santa Rosa of
Lima. — Jose de Anchieta and Almeida, Brazil. — What

ideals !

III. CORRUPTION AND FAILURE. — Immorality, especially of
clergy. — Romanism in Brazil. — Blackford's testimony.—
The condition of Ecuador typical.

CONCLUSION. — Romanism has failed thus far as a guide
and educator. — Pure gospel needed.

60

LECTURE II.
The Papists

Dogma has not succeeded dogma, but only ceremony
to ceremony. —Humboldt.

Christianity instead of fulfilling its mission of en-
lightening, converting and sanctifying the natives, was
itself converted. Paganism was baptised, Christianity
was paganised. — Abbott.

We are now to consider the attempt of Roman
Catholicism to conquer paganism. It is the sec-
ond act in the drama of Latin America's religious
development. Across the broad surface of the
Atlantic the white winged ships of Spain and
Portugal fly to the shores of the New World.
The apparently inexhaustible supplies of mineral
wealth, and the unknown vastness of the new
possessions have fired the imagination and given
birth to most extravagant conjecture. The peo-
ple and their civilization have been reported as
something never seen before; and it is asserted
that at every turn the unexpected bursts upon the
excited vision.

A fever of exploration and conquest seized with
special force upon the people of Spain and Portu-
gal whose daring navigators were nearest to the
new scene of action. It was a glorious age for
61

61 Needs of Latin America

the nations of the Spanish peninsula. Greeks and
Phoenicians had once been the sea-faring pioneers
and discoverers, but now that -the wide Atlantic
is to be traversed, the mantle of enterprise and
discovery falls upon men of Iberian descent and
they are endowed with a double portion of the
restless spirit of adventure. " The eagerness to
explore the wonderful secrets of the new hemi-
sphere became so active that the principal cities
of Spain were, in a manner depopulated, as emi-
grants thronged in large numbers to take their
chance upon the deep/' It seemed as though
the chief cities would be left " almost to the
women " and the children, as was said of Seville,
in I525.1

Following hard on the heels of Columbus, new
adventurers landed on the islands and mainland
of North and South America, from Florida to the
straits of Magellan. Within little more than a
generation this long line of coast was dotted
with settlements and bands of adventurous ex-
plorers had penetrated far into the interior of the

1 " The Venetian ambassador, Andrea Navagiero, who
travelled through Spain in 1525, near the period of
the commencement of our narrative, notices the gen-
eral fever of emigration. Seville, in particular, the
great port of embarkation, was so stripped of its in-
habitants, he says, ' that the city was left almost to the
women' Viagge fatto in Spagna (Vinegia, 1563, fol.
15) " Prescott's " Conquest of Peru," p. 189, Lippincott
and Co., 1860.

The Papists 63

continent, following the course of the rivers
wherever possible, or toiling on foot through the
long grass of the pampas and savannahs, or the
tangled undergrowth of interminable forests; up
the steep sides of elevated table-lands and amid
the snows and rocky fastnesses of the loftiest
mountain ranges. They suffered from every form
of danger and privation; from hunger, heat and
cold and deadly fevers, together with the fierce
hostility of the tribes whose territory they in-
vaded and whose vengeance they themselves
aroused by repeated acts of cruelty.

The rapidity with which date follows date in
a tabulated statement of discoveries, is proof of
the feverish haste with which the work of con-
quest and colonization was accomplished. In 1492
Columbus planted the cross and the standard of
Spain on a small island in the West Indies. In
1495 Hispaniola, or Haiti, was made the centre
of Spanish authority in the New World. In 1500
Brazil was discovered. The Rio de la Plata was
entered in 1508, Cuba was subjugated in 1511.
Two years later Balboa crossed the Isthmus of
Darien and took dramatic possession of the Pa-
cific for the Spanish crown. By 1521 Cortes had
conquered Mexico. Ten years later Pizarro over-
turned the Peruvian empire and" stripped the
Incas of their fabulous wealth. Four years more
rolled by, and the first disastrous attempt was
made to build the city now known as Buenos

64 Needs of Latin America

Ay res; and in 1547 Santiago de Chile was
founded.

Into this vast territory with its millions of pa-
gan Indians the Roman Catholic monks and
priests entered, side by side with the conquering
colonists. Missionaries were required to accom-
pany the later expeditions sent to the New World
for conquest or discovery; and in 1516, Cardinal
Cisneros commanded all vessels bound for Amer-
ica to carry at least one monk or priest. In 1526
the Spanish monarch passed a decree to the same
effect ; and it is still the boast of the Franciscan,
Dominican and Hieronomite monks, that they
looked with favor on the plans of Columbus and
helped him obtain the support of Ferdinand and
Isabella.

As early as 1493, Bernardo Boil, first apostolic
vicar to the New World, landed in Haiti as su-
perior of a band of twelve missionaries, one of
whom was Marchena, the friend of Columbus.
Marchena built, in the town of Isabella, a rude
church, the first in the New World. By 1505 the
Franciscans of Haiti, Cuba and Jamaica had so
increased in numbers that they united to form the
province of Santa Cruz. The name commemo-
rates a miraculous interposition of the Virgin
Mary to save the cross from destruction by a mob
of natives who were thus converted. Tales of the
marvelous are numerous in the narratives of Ro-
man Catholic missionaries. Their lives were an
epic struggle in a hand to hand conflict with the

The Papists 65

devil and his emissaries and they were only saved
from death by miraculous divine interpositions.

Of the many idols sent to Spain, Cardinal
Jimenez gave a quantity to the University of Al-
cala, as trophies of victories over the devil. In
1510, Las Casas, the heroic protector of the Indi-
ans, was ordained; the first presbyter consecrated
in America. In the same year the bishoprics of
Santo Domingo, Concepcion and San Juan de
Puerto Rico were founded. The tithe and first
fruits of all except gold, silver and precious
stones, were set apart for the erection of churches
and hospitals, and for the support of the clergy.
This was the humble beginning of what after-
wards became a source of wealth and corruption.

In 1514, the bishopric of Darien, the first on the
mainland was erected; and that same year Las
Casas baptized a thousand children on a trip
through Cuba. Cordoba and Montesinos had al-
ready reached the mainland of South America
and started a successful mission on the coast of
Venezuela, but the injustice and cruelty of the
Spanish pearl-fishers, in their treatment of the
natives, led to the massacre of the missionaries,
and this was but one of many such retaliatory acts
of violence in which the monks suffered for the
sins of their countrymen.

Later on, a missionary who, after the conquest
of Peru, attempted the conversion of a fugitive
Inca, was himself cruelly murdered and his bones,
made into flutes, were sent throughout the tribe.

66 Needs of Latin America

Undaunted by native defiance and deeds of
cruelty, the missionaries, entering in ever increas-
ing numbers, spread over what is now Venezuela
and Colombia. They entered Mexico, after its
conquest by Cortes ; and Peru in the footsteps of
Pizarro; and soon spread over the land.

Valencia and his companions, known as the
twelve apostles of Mexico, toiled barefoot all the
way from Vera Cruz to Mexico City, where they
were received by Cortes and his captains with a
great show of reverence. The conquerors came
out to meet the missionaries, and on bended knee
bade them welcome to their field of labor, promis-
ing them all due homage, and helpintheir arduous
task. The scene is supposed to have impressed
the natives with a proper idea of the sanctity and
self-sacrifice, the poverty and power, of these
humble representatives of the Church, before
whom the haughty conquerors bowed in meek
subjection. The Jesuits went everywhere, but spe-
cial praise has been given to their work among
the Indians in Paraguay, Brazil and Northern
Mexico, reaching into California and other por-
tions of our own Southwest.

In the earlier days, Franciscans and Domini-
cans, not to mention monks of many other orders,
and secular priests, were even more prominent.
There was a keen rivalry between the secular and
the regular clergy. We have not time to follow in
detail the labors of any one missionary, although

The Papists 67

the lives of many are of thrilling interest. From
the towns built by their compatriots, they went
forth in groups, by twos, or even singly; and
scattered themselves over the entire country. They
were undeterred by any obstacle and undaunted
by any danger. They endured the severest priva-
tions, and many lost their lives from the fatigues
of toil, the ravages of disease, or the violence of
hostile savages. They counted it all joy to thus
win the martyr's crown. A tone of intense de-
votion and religious fervor characterizes the per-
sonal memoirs of these heroic pioneers. Few
Protestant missionaries have been called upon to
endure greater hardships than they. There are,
however, in America to-day, mission fields whose
successful occupancy calls for equal heroism. Are
there not men who are ready to go? Will not
our churches send them ?

In their work for the conversion of the na-
tives, the missionaries had to reckon with the
presence of three other active agencies or factors
in the problem, which both helped and hindered
them in their work; namely, the conquerors and
colonists who were Roman Catholic by inheri-
tance ; the mixed race which rapidly grew up and
also inherited Romish beliefs from their fathers;
and the subjugated Indians, among whom the
missionaries chiefly labored and won their most
permanent victories. Let us begin our study by
attempting to catch the spirit which animated the

68 Needs of Latin America

Spanish and Portuguese conquerors and their fol-
lowers.

The relentless invaders were animated by two
supreme motives. One of these has been char-
acterized as "the cursed lust for gold." The
other was the zeal of a crusader engaged in a
" holy war " against the infidel. The first was
the same insatiable passion which, in more recent
years, has drawn men to California and the
Klondike. Cortes bluntly told the messengers of
Montezuma that he and his companions suffered
from " a disease of the heart " which could be
cured only with gold. He and all his imitators
took heroic doses of the " gold cure " ; but the
mad lust was never deadened. This passion added
to the difficulties of the missionaries. Clavijero
makes the terrible charge that, in one year of
merciless massacre, more victims were sacrificed
to avarice and ambition than had ever been of-
fered by the Indians to their gods. This charge,
in one form or another, is repeated by all who
study the question and has never been successfully
refuted.

As early as 1499, Columbus introduced the
system of encomiendas, so fruitful in evil for
the Indians of all Spanish America. It was well
meant, as a means to develop the resources of
the country ; and at the same time educate the na-
tives and abolish idolatry; but it did not reckon
with the weakness and wickedness of human na-
ture. Every Spaniard of rank was given control

The Papists 69

of a certain number of natives who were to work
for him a part of the time; while, in return, he
was to care for their general and religious in-
struction. All attempts to modify or regulate the
system were futile. In the mines, and on the large
estates, the Indians were virtually the slaves of
foreign masters, and often treated with cruelty.
Ercilla in his Epic, the Araucana, which celebrates
the heroic resistance of the Araucanians of Chile,
who were never subdued, thus accuses his coun-
trymen. It is the statement of a Spaniard who
knew the facts at the time :

" The seas of blood in these new countries spilt,
If that my judgment be in aught of worth,
Have hopes o'erthrown on conquest that were built,
Drowning the harvests of this golden earth.
For Spanish inhumanity and guilt,
Transgressing all the laws of war, gave birth
To such atrocities as ne'er before
Deluged a conquered land with native gore." !

This cruel oppression of the Indians was justi-
fied in some quarters by a denial that they pos-
sessed immortal souls. Vetancourt tells us that
some of the foreign masters maintained that " the
Indians were not rational," and could therefore be
used like any other beast of burden. The Domini-
cans stand out as their chief defenders, of whom
Las Casas, towering above all the rest, has won
undying fame.

1 For. Brit. Quat. Aug. 1829, quoted in Temple's Trav-
els.

70 Needs of Latin America

We cannot follow the history of this most extra-
ordinary debate, which Paul III settled, in 1537,
by issuing a bull in which he declared that " the
said Indians and all other peoples who hereafter
shall be brought to the notice of the Catholics, al-
though they may be without the faith of Jesus
Christ, in nowise are they to be deprived of their
liberty and of the control of their goods, in nowise
are they to be made slaves. . . . We also de-
termine and declare that the said Indians and
other similar peoples are to be called to the faith
of Jesus Christ by preaching and by the example
of a good and holy life."

The Roman Catholic church should have full
credit for its stand on this question. Many in-
dividual missionaries also deserve high praise, al-
though it is also true that they themselves, as a
class, used the natives for their own purposes,
and were jealous about admitting them to all the
privileges of the priestly orders. Even among
the missionaries, theory was better than practice,
while the owners of Indian slaves knew how to
evade the law, or set it openly at defiance. The
matter is mentioned here because of the influence
of this cruelty on the missionary enterprise.

The second motive named, the zeal of a crusa-
der in a holy war, seems incompatible with the
greed of the conquerors until we remember that
superstitious human nature is full of just such
contradictions.

Prescott says that " the Castilian, too proud for

The Papists 71

hypocrisy, committed more cruelties in the name
of religion than were ever practised by the pa-
gan idolater or the fanatical Moslem." The New
World crusader fought to extend the domain of
the Pope as well as that of the Emperor. This
was the obligation incurred by Spain and Portu-
gal when they accepted the gift of Alexander VI
of the new world. On receiving the promise of
the Spanish monarchs to use all diligence in the
conversion and enlightenment of the Indians, this
Pope, on May 3, 1493, signed the famous bull
called Linea Alexandrina by which he gave their
Spanish majesties absolute sovereignty over all
the lands they might discover beyond a line
drawn one hundred leagues (later 310 leagues)
west of the Azores. The rest was to belong to
Portugal, the other beneficiary in this gift of the
pagan world.

The bull enjoins the sending out of missionaries
apt to teach and of virtuous life, who shall con-
vert the natives in all the lands to be discovered.
Margat adds that it is but just to record the
pious zeal of Ferdinand and Isabella, who were
more anxious to extend Christ's kingdom than
their own. They took many wise measures to this
end and were profuse in instructions to the lead-
ers of expeditions, that they should not use force
and violence in the conversion of the natives,
but only the mild agencies authorized by holy
church. Columbus, after every voyage, in his
interviews with the queen, was asked to describe

72 Needs of Latin America

minutely what had been done for the conversion of
the Indians.

Columbus had already named the first land San
Salvador in gratitude to God for their safety,
and a Te Deum had been chanted. Shortly after
the planting of the royal standard, a rude cross
had been set up. The seven natives whom he
took back to Spain were baptized with the Span-
ish monarchs as sponsors. This was, in a sense,
the first fruit of the extensive harvests which
Rome was to reap in the New World.

Pizarro, on his voyage to Peru, was required
to take priests or monks in every vessel. This,
as already stated, became the fixed rule for all
expeditions to America. Velasquez wrote to
Cortes to remember that the chief purpose of his
expedition was the conversion of the natives.
" He was to take the most careful care to omit
nothing which might redound to the service of
God." The principal standard of Cortes was of
" black velvet, embroidered with gold, and em-
blazoned with a red cross amidst flames of blue
and white, with this motto in Latin beneath:
' Friends, let us follow the cross, and under this
sign, if we have faith, we shall conquer/ " *

Cortes himself exhorted his troops to rely on
God, who had never deserted the Spaniard in his
fight with the heathen. Mass was said and the
expedition sailed under the joint protection of St.

1 Conq. Mex., Prescott, vol. i, p. 356.

The Papists 73

Peter and St. James. This was the spirit of the
conquerors. They might lead very immoral lives ;
they might be guilty of avarice and untold deeds
of cruelty and bloodshed; but they were devout
Catholics, upheld by a strong, if superstitious,
faith in the righteousness of their cause. They
were soldiers of the Cross, fighting in a holy war ;
and their careers form the last chapter of medie-
val chivalry.

The second element in the problem was the
mixed race; the typical race to-day in Latin
America. It began to appear very soon after the
conquest and multiplied rapidly. The children
inherited the religion of their Spanish and Portu-
guese fathers, and as they were anxious to enjoy
all the privileges that their connection with the
conquerors and colonists gave them, they became
Roman Catholics from choice as well as by in-
heritance. They formed a conspicuous element in
the cities, in which were the centres of power and
influence in the colony. They, together with the
colonists of European descent, created a strong
public sentiment in favor of Romanism, which
exercised a powerful influence on the Indians, and
thus helped the missionaries in their work of
evangelization.

This brings us to the third factor in the prob-
lem, the Indians. The natives soon understood
the nature of the two motives which animated
their conquerors ; avarice and religious zeal. They
understood that defeat for themselves meant de-

74 Needs of Latin America

feat for their gods as well; and that they were
engaged in a war to the death, so far as their old
pagan cults were concerned.

A Mexican historian, General Vicente Riva
Palacio, says that " the people conquered by the
Spaniards in the Indies did not have even a re-
mote idea of Christian doctrine or Catholic
worship; but they looked upon their conversion
to that doctrine and worship as a necessary con-
sequence of their defeat in battle, as an indis-
pensable requisite which affirmed their vassallage
and slavery to the Spanish monarch; since, as
this was the principal motive which the con-
querors assigned for the invasion, they, however
rude we may suppose them to have been, knew
that on the outcome of the campaign depended
the religion which they were to have in the fu-
ture, since they would have to adopt that of the
Christians as soon as these were victorious. Thus
is to be explained the violent conversion of
Cuauhtemoc, whose indomitable energy was
shown in the siege of Mexico and the martyrdom
to which he was subjected." *

This recognition of the God and saints of
the Romish conquerors as real gods, could easily
be made, and that too, without losing faith in
their own gods; for it is no unusual thing for
heathen tribes to do homage to the gods of their

1 Mex. at. de los Siglos, vol. ii, p. 296.

The Papists 75

conquerors, and even to try to propitiate them.
Polytheism is flexible and ever ready to receive
an unknown god into its pantheon.

The Indians had another, even stronger motive
for prompt acceptance of the new faith. They
soon discovered that such acceptance would serve
as a partial protection against the oppression of
their conquerors. They were desperate, and will-
ing to do anything which would win some meas-
ure of respect for their persons and their prop-
erty. The Mexican writer just quoted says that
" the conquered Americans, who feared every-
thing, and rightly, from the hardness of the con-
querors, came to the conclusion that conversion
and baptism were the most powerful shield behind
which to protect themselves from further cruel-
ties. They, therefore, entered the towns en masse
asking the missionary to baptize them; and in
search of the precious guaranties of liberty and
life." x

This pressure was brought to bear upon the
Indians even in little things. For example, long
hair was a much prized ornament, while to have
the head shorn was a mark of dishonor. Philip II
made use of this prejudice when he decreed that
only Christian Indians might wear the hair un-
cut. It was a more serious matter when the de-
cree went forth that only Christian children could

1 Idem, p. 296.

76 Needs of Latin America

inherit the property of their parents. Some In-
dian chiefs not only had their children baptized,
but as a further protection asked prominent Span-
iards to act as their godparents, and often them-
selves took the surname of the godfather. The
chief might also insist on the conversion of his
tribesmen, who thus came to occupy toward the
Spaniards a position not altogether unlike that of
clients toward the patricians in ancient Rome.
Conversions were often only nominal and a mere
matter of policy.

That this is not a prejudiced statement made by
a Protestant is shown by the following quotation
taken from the Roman Catholic historian, Men-
dieta. He says that although the missionaries
" were well content to see how readily the people
gave heed to their preaching and teaching ; on the
other hand it appeared to them that the con-
course of the Indians to the church was more an
act of outward conformity at the command of
their principals, in order to deceive these, than a
voluntary movement on the part of the people
stirred to seek the remedy needed by their souls,
and to renounce the adoration and worship of
idols." x

If we now understand the spirit of the Spanish
soldier and colonist, and of the Indians anxious to
save what they could from the ruins of the past,

1 Hist. EC. Ind. L. iii, C. xx.

The Papists 77

we are ready to study a little in detail the Roman
Catholic missionary and his method of work. Re-
call also what was said of the resemblances be-
tween the old worship and the rites and cere-
monies of Romanism, which made the change less
radical than it would be to our Protestant form of
service.

As I have read the history of that early period
it has seemed to me that the instrumentalities em-
ployed can be classified into three groups, desig-
nated by the words Destruction, Construction,
Instruction.

Destruction, or the use of force to obliterate
all traces of the old heathenism, is the characteris-
tic which first attracts the attention of all who
study the method of the Roman Catholic mis-
sionaries during and immediately after the Con-
quest. Violent measures were employed in every
case, just as soon as possible, to stamp out and
utterly destroy every trace of the old idolatrous
practices. This was honestly meant, and un-
doubtedly did help to wean the Indians from their
idols ; but the success was not always in proportion
to the energy put forth.

In the earlier stages of colonization the con-
querors and civil authorities either assisted the
missionaries in this work, or practically did it for
them. Later on, the officers of the crown were
so taken up with the discharge of their own duties
that they left the missionaries to fight their own
battles. For example, the Franciscans were thus

78 Needs of Latin America

helped in Southern Mexico; while the Jesuits,
with almost no assistance, performed a more
difficult task among the distant, warlike and sav-
age tribes of the North.

Three instances in the march of Cortes, men-
tioned by Prescott in his " Conquest of Mexico,"
are accessible to all, and will be given here since
they serve to illustrate the method as well as any
others. When, at Cozumel, the appeals of the
priests who accompanied Cortes, failed to induce
the Indians to renounce idolatry, the intrepid
Spaniard resorted to more summary measures
which were not to be misunderstood. The images
were hurled from the pagan temple, the shrine
was quickly purified, and an image of the Virgin
and Infant Redeemer was soon placed above the
newly consecrated altar, and mass was said by
Olmedo. How far the hurried teaching of Chris-
tian doctrine, transmitted through the uncertain
medium of an Indian interpreter, enlightened the
darkened minds of the pagan hearers, I leave you
to determine. But violence won at least an out-
ward adherence to Christianity.

After the victory in Tabasco, won, it was said,
with the help of St. James on his white horse, the
grateful victors resolved to complete the good
work by converting the vanquished while they
were still in a submissive mood. After a sermon
by the priest, the same procedure was repeated.
Soldiers bore palm branches and swelled the

The Papists 79

sacred chant; and the Indians quietly ac-
quiesced.

Before a similar scene, in Cempoalla, Prescott
gives utterance to the thought of many, when he
says: "The Protestant missionary seeks to en-
lighten the understanding of his convert by the
pale light of reason. But the bolder Catholic,
kindling the spirit by the splendor, of the specta-
cle, and by the glowing portrait of an agonized
Redeemer, sweeps along his hearers in a tempest
of passion that drowns everything like reflection.
He has secured his convert, however, by the hold
on the affections, — an easier and more powerful
hold, with the untutored savage, than reason." *

But what about the Indian mistresses baptized
at Cempoalla, only to be debauched ? How high is
that type of " Christianity " which is prudently
blind to such deeds, and which, by a mere change
of idols, is begotten in a day?

The missionaries used the same summary
method even when there was no army at their
back. The discovery that idols were still
worshipped in secret, even in places where out-
ward conformity had been secured, intensified
their zeal. Las Casas, in 1560, wrote indignantly
of Cuzco, that " more than 500 guacas, or idols,
were found in that city and its suburbs, which
were adored by the inhabitants, notwithstanding

*Conq. Mex. vol. i, p. 354-

8o Needs of Latin America

the presence in the city of a bishop, a cathedral
church, four convents of monks and a great num-
ber of priests and lay Christians since 1531."

In 1590, in the province of Tunja, New Gra-
nada, Diego Mancera, found a cave where the
Indians worshipped their gods at night, and
offered human sacrifices. Many such instances
might be cited. The monks themselves tell us
how they carried on the work of demolition. The
Franciscan Motolinia, a celebrated missionary,
writing of Mexico, says that " on the first day
of the year 1525, which was Sunday, from ten
o'clock at night until dawn, three monks fright-
ened and drove away all the devils that were in the
places of worship." Mendieta explains that, with
the help of converted Indian children, they tore
down the heathen temples and burned the idols
and ornaments until nothing was left. Children
like that sort of work. They are iconoclasts by
nature. It was fine fun that turning over of a new
leaf on New Year's Day, 1525.

Sahagun shows us that this was not an uncom-
mon recreation for the children. " We took the
children of the caciques," he writes, " into our
schools ; where we taught them to read, and write
and to chant. The children of the poorer natives
were brought together in the courtyard and were
there instructed in the Christian faith. After our
teaching, one or two brethren took the pupils to
some neighboring teocalli, and by working at
it for a few days, they levelled it to the

The Papists Si

ground. In this way they demolished, in a short
time, all the Aztec temples, great and small, so
that not a vestige of them remained" * This ex-
plains why so few ancient architectural remains
are to be found in some sections of country.

The following account of a more murderous
kind of violence is translated from Mendi-
eta's " Ecclesiastical History of the Indians,"
because it gives a naive picture of the struggles
of that transition period. The chief actors were
the children of the Mission School and a heathen
priest. The place was Tlascala, a capital city, the
rival of Mexico. In hope of winning the people
back to their old allegiance the priest " dressed
himself m the insignia of one of their gods called
Ometochtli, said to be the god of wine [pulque]
(like another Bacchus) and went into the market
place, very fierce and frightful in appearance.
To make his ferocity more apparent, he held in his
mouth several knives made of a kind of black
stone much used for this purpose. He gnashed
upon them as he moved about and ran through the
market place with a crowd of people at his back,
attracted by the novel spectacle; for the priests
seldom left the temples dressed in that way, and
when they did go out, they were held in such re-
spect and reverence that the people hardly dared
to lift up their eyes and look them in the face.

xHis. Neuva Espana, lib. iii, p. 77. Conq. of Mcx.
vol. iii, p. 254.

82 Needs of Latin America

" While this was taking place, the children who
were taught at the Monastery, began to return
from the river whither they had gone to bathe.
They had to pass through the market place, and
as they saw such a crowd of people behind the
demon, or his embodiment, they asked what it
all meant. Some replied : ' It is our god Ome-
tochtli.' The children retorted : ' It is not God,
but the devil who deceives you with his lies/

" In the market place there was a cross to which
the children now approached and did it reverence
as they had been taught. There they waited a mo-
ment till all had gathered; for they were many
and had become scattered. Then the man who
had the insignia went toward them and began to
act as though he was very angry, and to upbraid
them, saying that they would soon die, and that
they had angered him by leaving their own house
and going to the new God and to St. Mary (this
then was and still is the name of the principal
church of Tlascala). At once some of the larger
boys spoke up with daring courage and said that
they were not afraid of him; that he was a liar;
and they would not die at once as he said; and
that there was only one God, Lord of heaven and
earth and of all things; and that, as for him, he
was not God, but the image of the devil.

" The minister of the devil still declaring that
he was a god, and trying to frighten the children,
pretended to be angrier than ever against them.
By this time a crowd had gathered to see how

The Papists 83

the fight would end. The man dared to maintain
that he was a god, and the children, that he was
the devil ; until, finally, one of them stooped down
for a stone and said to the others : ' Let us cast
out hence this devil, for God will help us/ As he
said the words he threw the stone and the rest
followed suit. At first the devil faced them, but
when all began to throw, he turned and ran away,
and they after him, throwing stones. He came
very near to getting away, but God granted them,
what the man's sins deserved, that he should
stumble. Hardly had he fallen when they killed
him and covered him with stones. The children
were greatly lifted up, as though they had done a
great deed, and they said : ' Now the people of
Tlascala will see that this man was not a god,
but a wicked liar, and that God and St. Mary are
good, for they helped us kill the devil.' And in
truth, after that struggle and the death of the
unfortunate madman, it seemed as though not a
mere man, but the devil himself had been killed ;
and as, in battle, the victorious soldiers rejoice,
while the vanquished lie fallen and disheartened,
thus was it with those who served and believed in
the idols, while the victors were happy." *

Fray Juan de Zumarraga, the first bishop of
Mexico, has been called the Omar of New Spain,
because he destroyed not only temples and idols,
and even executed an Indian, the only native vic-

1Lib. iii, cap. xxiv.

84 Needs of Latin America

tim of the Inquisition in Mexico ; but because he
also made away with old Aztec hieroglyphic writ-
ings. The loss was hardly as great as that of
the library at Alexandria, even though he did
make, as we are told, immense bonfires of all the
old manuscripts and picture rolls on which he
could lay his hands. In his eyes they were evi-
dently the work of Satan.

Mr. Riva Palacio, whom I have already quoted,
commenting on this loss, over which the historian
will forever grieve, says, with commendable im-
partiality, that we must not judge the zealous
bishop by the standards of our day, as though he
were the scholarly member of some modern scien-
tific society. He was simply a rather fanatical
representative of the religious ideas of his epoch
and nation. He and his companions had a huge
task to perform, and, animated by the relentless
spirit of that age, they set about it with character-
istic vigor and thoroughness. Their great object
was to wipe out every trace of the old idolatry,
and remove every temptation to a relapse on the
part of the Indians. What were the interests of
the antiquary and the archaeologist, if they hin-
dered the attainment of this end? Fortunately
there were a few men, like Sahagun, who saved
what they could from the general destruction.

The work of demolition was followed by one of
construction. As fast as the old temples were torn
down, new and grander ones were erected in their

The Papists 85

places. The new buildings by their size and mas-
siveness, impressed the natives with the fact that
the foreign religion had come to stay. This fact
still impresses every thoughtful observer who
visits Latin America. The most conspicuous of
all landmarks are the churches which crown the
hilltops, or tower above the huts of the Indian
villages or adorn the central squares of the
cities.

One of the most extensive and magnificent of
all the stately piles erected by the indefatigable
monks, was the church and convent of San Fran-
cisco, in Mexico City. From a humble beginning
it grew, in the lapse of three centuries, into a
splendid group of buildings covering an extensive
area in what is now the heart of the modern city.
We are told that " the silver tabernacle of the
high altar alone cost $24,000," and that the result
of all the lavish outlay " was a richness and
splendor unsurpassed in Mexico." Now the old
grounds are cut up into business squares. A block
of business houses closes the entrance to the main
church on San Juan de Letran street. The old
courtyard has been roofed over and forms the
Methodist Chapel; while the Garden Hotel has
been remodelled out of another part of the old
structure. The refectory was for a time turned
into a livery stable; and Independence street
gives free passage to the modern trolley car
through the ancient enclosure.

How this and other changes were wrought be-

86 Needs of Latin America

longs to another epoch in the religious history of
Mexico. At present our concern is with the size
and massiveness of the ancient structure, as it
still stands dismantled, a mute but eloquent wit-
ness to the power of the papacy in her new world
heritage.

After Pizarro's triumphal entry into Cuzco Fa-
ther Valverde was nominated bishop, and at once
began the erection of a cathedral facing the prin-
cipal square. A Romish monastery replaced the
temple of the Sun. " Its walls," Prescott tells us,
" were constructed of the ancient stones ; the altar
was raised on the spot where shone the bright
image of the Peruvian deity ; and the cloisters of
the Indian temple were trodden by the friars of
St. Dominic. To make the metamorphosis more
complete, the house of the Virgins of the Sun was
replaced by a Roman Catholic nunnery."

The present cathedral of Mexico City occupies
very nearly the site of the Aztec teocalli, and
broken fragments of the ancient structure and its
idols have been built into the walls. The same
sudden and surprising transformation was ef-
fected everywhere. The ancient shrines were
either purified and turned into Roman Catholic
temples, at least temporarily, or they were torn
down and the material used in the construction of
churches and monasteries.

It is surprising to see how much money the
monks and priests soon had at their disposal for
the construction of new buildings. It is curious

The Papists 87

also to note the use made of the Indians in their
erection. Take one example from many. For a
short time after their arrival in New Spain, the
Franciscans and Dominicans supported them-
selves with alms gathered in the streets and public
markets of Mexico City. Soon, however, they
began to build costly churches and convents. In
1531, the Queen felt obliged to write to the Do-
minicans to moderate their expenditures. In
1556, Archbishop Montufar asked the Council
of the Indies to put a stop to the " great costs and
expenditures for personal service and for sumptu-
ous and superfluous works which the monks make
in the towns of the Indians, and at the expense of
these latter. They think nothing," he says, " of
undertaking a new work which may cost from ten
to twelve thousand ducats. To say and to do are
the same thing. In the work they employ Indians
in relays of five hundred or a thousand men, and
without wages or even a mouthful of bread to eat,
the men being rounded up for the work from a
distance of four, six, or twelve leagues. Others
prepare the lime and other materials for what they
actually cost."

Similar methods were employed by all the re-
ligious orders and in all parts of America. As a
rule, however, the churches built for the use of
-^ Indians were not as large and strong as those
erected in the Spanish settlements. These latter,
together with the monasteries, were veritable for-
tresses, and were often surrounded by high and

88 Needs of Latin America

thick walls which also enclosed the cemetery,
thus affording an ample space for refuge in case
of attack by hostile Indians.

In carrying out their work of destruction and
of construction; as well as in their labors to in-
struct the natives; the Roman Catholic mission-
aries had a degree of authority which their Prot-
estant successors have never possessed. They
could use the Indians in forced labor and had the
right to inflict corporal punishment. Montiifar
says of the Franciscans that the " Indians had
them in such great fear, by reason of the great
punishments which they inflicted, that some of
them dare not speak or complain." Another
tells of a beating administered by monks, in
which the rods were broken on the Indian's
back. Mendieta says that the friars complained
bitterly when Philip II withdrew his authority,
on the ground that " this people is so debased
that unless one has over them all authority he
has none, and if they are not held way under
and subjected, they cannot be held in subjection
at all." In some cases the law required Indians
to travel as far as twelve leagues to attend serv-
ices at the monasteries. This was very hard
for the sick and for women with little children
to care for or carry.

At times the monks in the exercise of their pre-
rogatives came into contact with the civil authori-
ties, and with the secular clergy. The Francis-
cans, for example, did not like to turn over any

The Papists 89

part of their extensive field to the priests, al-
though themselves unable to minister to the needs
of all the people. Mendieta tells us that, in some
cases, two monks would have the care of a hun-
dred thousand Indians. Some of the native vil-
lages were visited only once or twice a year, others
even less frequently. The visits, when made, were
of the briefest, only long enough to say mass,
baptize and marry converts, and then on to the
next point in their extensive circuit.

Similar complaints are made to-day against the
parish priests of isolated districts. Often the ap-
parent neglect was due solely to the limitations
of finite human nature. It was hard, heroic toil;
and before we criticize, let us be sure that we are
willing to endure as much as they gladly suf-
fered in behalf of the Indians.

Mr. Riva Palacio, in his excellent treatment of
this subject, to which I am largely indebted,
gives as his final verdict that " the severe and
impartial historian must declare that, during the
first years of Spanish rule in Mexico, the services
to humanity, civilization and the progress of the
colony rendered by the religious orders were so
eminent that actions which otherwise might be
presented as serious faults can be readily con-
doned." *

It is now time to say something about the meth-

1 Mex. at. Siglos, vol. ii, caps, xxx and xxxi.

90 Needs of Latin America

ods of instruction employed to indoctrinate and
christianize the Indians. While many monks
were iconoclasts of the type of Zumarraga, others
were studious, scholarly men, to whom we are
indebted for much of our knowledge of the
beliefs and customs of the Indians. In their
explanations of the facts which they relate, they
reflect the credulity and ignorance of their day;
but for their patient accumulation of material
they deserve high praise.

Sahagun was perhaps the most painstaking and
praiseworthy of these historians. As we have
occasion to quote him frequently, it may be well
to say a few words about his work as a student.
He was a Franciscan monk who came to Mexico
in 1529, and lived to an advanced age. He was
zealous as a missionary, and at the same time in-
defatigable in collecting material for his " Uni-
versal History of New Spain." He spared no
pains to make the work an accurate record of
native beliefs. He made his first inquiries of a
body of intelligent natives, who knew no Spanish,
and were thus free from that bias. After due
deliberation they wrote their answers in hiero-
glyphics. These were next written out in the In-
dian language by his own pupils at Santa Cruz,
and their version was critically examined and
passed upon by a third body of natives in an-
other part of the country.

The prejudices of those in authority delayed
for thirty years the translation of this valu-

The Papists 91

able work into Spanish. Then the manuscript
was sent to Spain where it lay hidden in the
library of the Tolosa convent until 1829 when
Bustamante in Mexico, and Kingsborough in
England, published the work. Its value can
hardly be overestimated. It is only fair to call
attention to facts such as these, if we would make
an impartial study of the work of the missionary
monks.

Evangelistic preaching was common as a means
of winning the natives to Christianity. The na-
tive converts showed the same facility as orators
then as now. Mendieta gives us a chapter from
his own personal experience, he says, " I, who
write this, arrived at a time when there were not
enough friars who could preach in the language
of the Indians. We preached through interpret-
ers ; and among others, it happened to me to have
one who helped me in a certain barbarous lan-
guage. After I had preached to the Mexicans in
their language (which is the most general) he
entered, dressed in his roquete or surplice, and
preached to the barbarians in their language, re-
peating what I had said to the others, and with so
much authority, energy, exclamation and spirit
that I was filled with envy of the grace of God
which had been communicated to him. Such was
the help that these interpreters gave that they car-
ried the voice and sound of the Word of God,
not only into the provinces where there are mon-
asteries and to the lands visited by preachers from

92 Needs of Latin America

these but to all the confines of New Spain which
is conquered and pacified, and to all the other
places reached by the native merchants who pene-
trate far into the interior." *

Teaching the people en masse, and the children
in schools, were also employed. A letter of Pedro
Gante, one of the best of the missionaries, who
wrote from Mexico, June 27, 1529, gives some
interesting facts on this, and other points as well.
He says : " The Indians are docile and of good
disposition and inclined to receive our faith, but
force and interest determine them to it more than
sweetness and affection. ... By the grace
of God we have secured many conversions. There
have been days in which my companion and I bap-
tized more than a thousand Indians, and more
than 200,000 have accepted Jesus Christ. In most
of the provinces we have well-served houses and
parochial churches. . . . My occupation during
the day is reduced to teaching how to read, write
and sing; and at night I catechize and preach.
As this country is so populous, and there are
barely enough laborers to instruct so many peo-
ple, we have gathered into seminaries the sons of
the principal families to instruct them in religion,
in order that afterwards they may teach their
parents.

" In the Seminary under my charge, there are

*Hist. EC. Ind. L. iii, Cap. xx.

The Papists 93

already six hundred pupils who know how to read,
write, sing and help in the divine office. Among
them I have chosen fifty who seem to have the
best disposition. I have these learn a sermon each
week, and then they go out on Sunday to preach
it in the neighboring towns, which is of great
utility, for it inclines the people to receive bap-
tism. They always go with us when we set out
to destroy the idols and set up in their places
our churches in honor of the true God. Thus it
is we employ our time, passing day and night in
work for the conversion of this poor people."

Bishop Zumarraga wrote, June 12, 1531, to
Matias Veysen, commissary general of missions:
" My reverend father, we labor with assiduity in
the conversion of the Indians, and the grace of
God has crowned our efforts. Up to the present
time we have baptized more than a million of
these pagans, demolished more than five hun-
dred of their temples, and burned and destroyed
more than twenty thousand idols. Many churches
and chapels have been built. . . . Many of [the
children] know how to read, write and sing better
than the adults. They confess frequently, receive
the holy communion with the greatest fervor, and
explain to their parents, with the greatest ac-
curacy, what they have been taught. At mid-
night they rise to recite the office of the Virgin,
to whom they have a special devotion. They are
the ones who search everywhere for hidden idols

94 Needs of Latin America

and take them to the monks. Some have already
gained the martyr's crown by this act of zeal, for
their own parents have put them to death in a
cruel manner."

Martin de Valencia, another celebrated mis-
sionary, wrote at the same time : " We have estab-
lished twenty convents, and increase their number
daily ; for the Indians themselves help us and con-
tribute for their construction with the greatest
fervor."

The missionary Mateo, who resided in Caja-
marca, Colombia, is another example of active
work. He had a circuit of fifty towns and vil-
lages which he visited in order, accompanied by
children whom he had taught Christian doctrine.
He wrote out his teachings in versified form, and
had the children commit them to memory. On
reaching an Indian village, the monk would enter
first, carrying a cross, and the children followed
in procession, chanting what they had learned.
While teaching and exhorting, this worthy man
liked to hold a skull in his hand to impress his
hearers with an idea of the brevity of life and the
torments of hell. He also liked to preach stand-
ing near the graves of the pagan dead, and warn
the living heathen to flee from a similar fate.
Mateo was very abstemious, and, as if the ordi-
nary hardships were not enough, he often beat
himself until the blood flowed. The fact is, the
chronicler is more inclined to praise all these mis-
sionaries for their unnecessary acts of self-

The Papists 95

torture than for their heroic endurance of un-
avoidable hardships.

The monks seem to have had as much difficulty
in gathering the people for religious services, as
the modern missionary encounters in some of the
remote mountain districts, where clocks are almost
unknown, and where time is not money. But the
monks had authority and were not slow to use it.
When the attendance of all was especially desired,
as on some high feast day, certain officials were
sent to remind the natives of the approaching fes-
tival, and bid them go to bed early and get up
betimes. Then about two or three o'clock in the
morning the rounds were again made and all
were awakened. — I was once aroused in a similar
way in Ozumba, just before Holy Week. — The
Indians were formed into two columns, one of
men, the other of women. A special standard,
generally red and stamped with an image of their
patron saint, was carried in the procession; and
all chanted Christian doctrines while on the
march. After entering the cemetery which was
enclosed by a high wall, and adjoined the church,
the roll was called. Absentees were sent for and
given as punishment six lashes across the shoul-
ders. The Indians resented this, so tradition has
it that the monks persuaded Cortes to stay away
on one occasion and then take his whipping like
a man in presence of the assembled congregation.
A picture was of course painted to commemorate
this notable act of humility. It was kept in the

96 Needs of Latin America

chapel of the Talabarteros, Mexico City, till that
was destroyed, and then removed to the church of
Santa Cruz Acatlan. *

After roll call a teacher recited the lesson for
the day twice in a loud voice and the natives re-
peated it after him; but if they remembered no
more than did the children taught in the same
noisy way in the public schools of the old regime,
they remembered very little. The service in the
church which followed was of the usual char-
acter.

Mendieta describes a system of object lessons
sometimes employed, which calls to mind our
modern illustrated Sunday school charts, which
are of great use in our mission schools. There is
nothing new under the sun. Some priests, who
found it hard to make themselves understood in
the Indian dialects, adopted a system similar to
the Indian hieroglyphics, and had painted, on a
strip of cloth, symbolical representations of the
articles of the creed, the sacraments, the com-
mandments, and scenes from the biblical narra-
tive. " And," says our historian, " when the
preacher wished to preach on the commandments
the cloth with the commandments was hung near
him, on one side, so that with a rod, such as the
constables carry, he could point out the part he
wished. Thus he taught the commandments, and

1 Mex. at. Sig., vol. ii, p. 307.

The Papists 97

he did the same when he wished to speak of the
articles, hanging up the cloth on which they were
painted. And thus he expounded clearly and dis-
tinctly the whole Christian doctrine." That the
practise was not universal is shown by his sug-
gestion that " it would not be unfruitful if, in all
the schools for boys, paintings of this kind should
be used in order that (the truth) might be printed
on their memories at a tender age, and there
would be less ignorance than is often the case
for lack of this." 1

The Indians also had several systems of mne-
monics of their own invention which Mendieta
also describes. The simplest method consisted in
representing very word or phrase by a stone or
kernel of maize. By touching these in order the
learner noted any omissions which might occur.
For example, Pater nosier, stone number one;
qui es en coelis, the second; sanctificetur, the
third; and so on to the end of the prayer.

Another contrivance was much more ingenious
and showed no little wit. The Latin or Spanish
word was associated with an Indian word of
similar sound, and the hieroglyphics of the Indian
terms were painted on a strip of paper. For ex-
ample, the word for twenty is pantli, and is rep-
resented by a banner. Pantli suggests pater.
Noster is suggested by Nochtli, a tuna or prickly

xHis. EC. Ind. L. iii, Cap. xxx.

98 Needs of Latin America

pear. This is as complicated as any modern
memory system. 1

The Lord's Prayer was also written out in
an equally curious sign language, using symbols
which were a direct suggestion of the thought.
For example, a priest or padre stood for " our
Father."

At an early date catechisms and other simple
text-books were prepared to be used by those who
could read. Reading was then and still is, how-
ever, a rare and laborious art among the Indians
of Latin America. In 1532, Sebastian Ramirez,
bishop of Santo Domingo, had two catechisms of
Roman Catholic doctrines translated into Mexi-
can or Nahuatl. He asked the king to print
them " in order that the Indians may be," as he
says, " better indoctrinated, and that those who
know how to read may be fitted to teach others."
He modestly asks for only two or three thousand
copies.

In 1539, Zumarraga and Antonio de Mendoza
set up a printing press in Mexico City and printed
their own catechisms, in Spanish and Mexican.
But there was no printing press in Brazil till the
beginning of the nineteenth century; and only
one for Argentina owned by the Jesuits of Cor-
doba.

Imperfect knowledge of native languages, in-
accuracy of interpreters, and the lack of Indian

1 Idem, Lib. iii, Cap. xxix.

The Papists 99

words to express Christian thought; together
with the superficial character of much of the in-
struction given, often in Latin, lessened the
value of the finished product. We do not need
to add anything to their own adverse criticisms
on one another. Motolinia tells us that the In-
dians when they called on Mary, " thought they
were naming God. And to all the images which
they saw," he adds, " they gave the name of St.
Mary." This shows indirectly how unduly they
exalted Mary instead of holding up only the
crucified Son of God. Others prayed to St. James
on his white horse, since he so powerfully helped
the Spaniards, and must therefore be a god of
note. You see they did not distinguish between
latria and dulia; reverence and worship were all
one to them; and polytheism, which had made
them familiar with many gods and with saint
worship, only gave a new set of names to the
lesser deities.

The Virgin of the Remedies, is still invoked
at the old shrine of Chalchihuitlicue, near Mexico
City, as the goddess of rain. The Indians often
put Romish crucifixes and images side by side
with their own idols. This shows the jumble their
minds are in. Mendieta says of the instruction
given by the native teachers, whom the monks
had tried to educate, that it " was not very fruit-
ful, for the Indians did not know what they were
saying in Latin, nor did they abandon their
idolatries." Bishop Montufar admitted that many

ioo Needs of Latin America

" learn the creed like parrots, without understand-
ing it." Yet the letter of requirement had been
met ; and, as stated in some of our quotations, the
ignorant natives were baptized in great crowds
which were sprinkled en masse, with no indi-
vidual examination, the same name being some-
times given to all the members of a group.

This reckless administration of the sacrament
called out the severe criticism of stricter Roman-
ists who forestalled our own Protestant animad-
versions. They declared the rite invalid as ad-
ministered. There was a hot discussion until
the Pope called a halt, forgave the past, and told
the missionaries to be more careful in future.

It will not do to close this part of our dis-
cussion without at least a brief reference to the
various missions of the Jesuits. Their missions
in California are perhaps best known to the Amer-
ican people; especially after their transfer to
the Franciscans. In Brazil, the Jesuits gathered
the Indians into villages, which prospered as long
as the missionaries were in control. The so-called
" Reductions " of Paraguay are perhaps, the most
famous. The system which was rejected with
scorn by the fierce tribes of the pampas, was suited
to the milder temper of the Guaranies. The In-
dians were gathered into settlements under the
direction of Jesuit fathers, who gave their dusky
children a rudimentary education, taught them
the forms of Romish worship, and kept them busy
in the tillage of the soil, the simpler trades and

The Papists 101

mechanical arts; not altogether unlike a modern
industrial school, only on a larger scale.

Their patriarchal form of government has been
likened to the socialistic paternalism of the Peru-
vian Incas, and these Jesuits have been called the
Manco Capacs of Paraguay. A fear that their
power would grow unduly and prove a menace to
the civil government of the colony, — a fear which
some have laughed at, — together with the rival-
ries of the Spanish and Portuguese colonists, led
to the forcible suppression of this work, and the
Indians soon drifted back into their old nomadic
life.

In 1767, the year in which the Jesuits were
expelled, there were said to be 100,000 natives in
30 towns; in 1825 there were only 1,000 Indians
living amid the ruins of their settlements. Sir
Woodbine Parish says of the Jesuits that in
" about a century and a half, upwards of a mil-
lion of Indians were converted to Christianity by
them." 1 Yet after this whole century and a half
the Indians had failed to become independent in
thought and action, and were still children. Was
this result due to Indian character alone, or in
part, at least, to the excessive paternalism of
the system, and the nature of the doctrines
taught?

'For three centuries nothing occurred to inter-

1 History of Buenos Ayres, p. 256.

IO2 Needs of Latin America

fere with the spread of the Roman Catholic
Church in Latin America. The field was entirely
her own. There grew up Iberian cities of con-
siderable size whose wealthy inhabitants were
noted for their lavish display. Here dwelt the
foreign masters, the political rulers, landowners
and merchant princes; men of immense wealth,
leading selfish, self-indulgent, often sensual lives.
Even in the first century, so gross had become the
corruption in Peru, that the missionary monk,
Francisco de Solano, rushed into the streets of
Lima, and tragically proclaimed its destruction;
winning, like Jonah at Nineveh, a sudden, but
transitory, repentance.

The people of foreign ancestry and of mixed
race were very devout in their way. By their
sympathy, their influence and their gifts, they
strengthened the religious orders and the ecclesi-
astical hierarchy. They loved the showy cere-
monies of the church, but had little or no spirit-
uality of thought or life. The Indians, toiling
in the cities, on the extensive estates, or in the
mines, were apparently devoted to the new faith.
Multitudes flocked annually to the sacred shrines,
once pagan, now Romanist. On high feast days
the streets of the cities were bright with splendid
religious processions. Massive churches and con-
vents were everywhere to be seen; the cross
crowned every hill top; the clangor of bells was
constant. When the host was carried by in haste
to the bedside of the dying, all fell upon their

The Papists 103

knees, and ill-fared the luckless alien who, from
ignorance or conviction, stood erect and covered.
He was fortunate if he escaped with his life. It
was no place for Protestants who were regarded
as atheists or emissaries of the devil.

In the old Spanish Viceroyalties, and in mon-
archical Brazil, the church festivals were an op-
portunity for the display of wealth, the enjoyment
of profane amusements, and the making of love.
Of Mexico, it is said, and the case is typical, that
" The canonization of a saint, the dedication of a
church, the concession of a privilege to some re-
ligious community, the appointment of a bishop,
were observed as feasts with bull-fights, mas-
querades and comedies, which were attended not
only by the viceroy, but also by the archbishop
and principal ecclesiastical dignitaries."

A writer from Brazil, of half a century ago,
tells us that the pride of the celebrant was in the
showy display at the feast and the quality of those
who attended. This was evident even in the
notices published in the papers. The faithful
were urged " to add to the splendor of the feast
in honor of the most Holy Mother of Grief " and
assured of due reward if they did so. Another
announcement stated that the Te Deum would
be given " with the greatest possible pomp," and
that " there would be a beautiful display of fire-
works." The attractions at the feast of the Holy
Ghost were even greater : Holy communion, pro-
cession, Te Deum, sermon, and, on the next day,

IO4 Needs of Latin America

the feast of the patron of San Gonzalo with
"brilliant horse-racing" and "magnificent fire-
works." l

Pagan Demetrius and his craftsmen, who made
silver shrines of Diana, have their imitators in
all Latin America. Here is Mr. Fletcher's trans-
lation of an advertisement which was published
in a Brazilian paper:

" Notice to the Illustrious Preparers of the
Festival of the Holy Spirit.

" In the Rua dos Ourives, No. 78, may be found
a beautiful assortment of Holy Ghosts in gold,
with glories, at eighty cents each, smaller sizes
without glories, forty cents; silver Holy Ghosts,
with glories, at six dollars and a half per hun-
dred; ditto, without glories, three dollars and a
half; Holy Ghosts of tin, resembling silver, sev-
enty-five cents per hundred." *

The feasts all remind one of a Fourth of July
celebration with its firecrackers, to which the
clangor of bells must be added, except in a part
of Passion Week, when noisy rattles take their
place. Many candles are also burned. On Good
Friday, in Brazil, little girls are dressed as gaudy
angels, and men in robes carry torches. One
angel " carries the nails, another the hammer, a
third the sponge, a fourth the spear, a fifth the
ladder, and a sixth the cock that gave the warning

1 Fletcher and Kidder, Braz. and Braz., p. 147.
1 Idem.

The Papists 105

to Peter. Never are the balconies more crowded
than on this occasion There is no pro-
cession more beautiful or imposing than this. As
I gazed," Mr. Fletcher continues, "at the long
line of gown-clad men, bearing in one hand an
immense torch, and leading by the other hand a
brightly decked anjinho; [angel] — as from time
to time I saw the images of those who were active
or silent spectators of that sad scene which was
presented on Calvary, eighteen hundred years ago,
— as I beheld the soldiers, helmet in hand and
their arms reversed, marching with slow and
measured tread, — as I heard the solemn chant
issuing from the voice of childhood, or as the
majestic minor strains of the marc he funebre
wailed upon the night air — the aesthetic feelings
were powerfully moved. But when a halt oc-
curred, and I witnessed the levity and utter in-
difference of the actors, the effect on myself van-
ished, and I could at once see that the intended
effect upon the multitudes in the street, and in
the neighboring balconies, was entirely lost."

On one such occasion they forgot to supply the
Indian who impersonated our Saviour on the
cross with plenty of gall, that is, rum, according
to contract — and he amused the spectators by
shouting out : " O, Mr. Jew, Mr. Jew, a little
more gall ! "

Hallelujah Saturday, which follows Good Fri-
day, is better known as Judas Day. The traitor
represented by fantastic images is dragged

io6 Needs of Latin America

through the streets, hanged, beaten, quartered
and ignominiously burned. In Mexico fireworks
are attached to these effigies and they are hung
across the streets and exploded as soon as the
bells begin to ring again at ten o'clock Saturday
morning.

I have seen the Passion Play, — different from
that of Brazil, — performed by Indians at Tlalpam
and at Coyoacan. The Indians were fantastically
dressed to represent Jews and Roman soldiers.
Judas and the devil made fun for the crowd.
Pilate washed his hands in a modern basin, and
after sentence had been pronounced, an image of
the Saviour, with flexible joints, was nailed to the
cross, on a miniature calvary. The scene was very
picturesque, but behind the hill the tired actors
were cooling their heated throats with copious
libations of pulque ; while in front, before a kneel-
ing crowd, a priest addressed words of blasphe-
mous adoration to a statue of the Virgin whom
he called our co-redeemer and intercessor. The
Son on the cross was forgotten, that his mother
might be exalted.

From the host of festal celebrations described
by travellers in all the countries of Latin America,
it is hard to tell which to select. The Lord of the
Earthquakes has a pleasant name. It is curious
to see an image of St. Peter fishing in the waters
of the Pacific. Copocobana, high up in the Andes,
on the shore of Lake Titicaca, has special claims
on our attention ; for we are told that " upon the

The Papists 107

ruins of the pagan temples which existed there;
and with the same materials, the astute missionary
monks erected ... a magnificent edifice, one of
the most beautiful on the continent. They seated
upon the throne of the oracle an image of the
Mother of Christ which is more renowned than
any other effigy in America; and they made her
shrine the scene of annual festivals which called
together the inhabitants of the entire Andean
region." Then we are told a pretty little story
about the making of the image; how it got to
the spot and refused to be taken away ; also, of its
miraculous powers. The worshippers approach
with lighted candles. The priest takes the candles,
spreads a robe of the image over their bowed
heads, mumbles a few words and the ceremony is
at an end.

Outside, the fair, with its barter, gambling,
and drinking is in full blast. How much better
is this than the heathenism of the Incas ? Is this
the Christianity of Christ ? And yet an American
spectator, presumably a Protestant, made this
comment on what he saw : " The diplomacy and
wisdom of the early Catholic missionaries is no-
where more strikingly illustrated than by the
skill with which they won to their church the
reverence of the aborigines. In following a con-
trary policy the Protestants have made a great
mistake. The Catholics did not resist or attempt
to obliterate the native customs of the Indians;
but, with exceeding skill, turned them into new

io8 Needs of Latin America

channels, and finally amalgamated the most im-
portant of them with the authorized festivals of
their own church."

The shrine of Guadalupe, the most celebrated
in Mexico, is the only other we shall mention.
To win the devotion of the Indians, the story was
circulated that, north of Mexico City, on a spot
once sacred to Tonantzin, a heathen mother of
the gods, the " Mother of God," in the guise of
an Indian maiden appeared in chill December to
a poor Indian, Juan Diego. At the sacred pressure
of her feet a fountain of medicinal water bubbled
up. Roses were plucked upon the barren hillside
where nothing had ever grown before; and they
imprinted their own living colors, in an image of
the Virgin, upon the blanket of the astonished
Juan, while he carried them in his arms to the
bishop.

A shrine was of course erected ; and the miracu-
lous image hung in a conspicuous place. Mary
had shown her love for the Indians; and they,
in gratitude, flocked to her new sanctuary from
all parts of the country; often going for miles
upon their knees, and suffering other self-inflicted
torture; and trying to wash out their sins in
their own blood rather than in that of Christ.

In the war for independence the Indians fought
beneath the banner of Guadalupe. Viceroys, and
a long line of Presidents and Dictators have done
homage at her shrine. In 1895, with the sanction
of the Pope and the presence of an American

The Papists 109

Archbishop from the United States, a costly
crown was placed above the image, and new popu-
larity was given to the worship. Often have the
Indians, dressed in native costume, danced their
old sacred dances before the altar within the
temple. Without, the town was crowded with
Indians, and at the many booths some were drink-
ing, others gambling, while under cover of the
darkness worse vices were practised. So great
has been the scandal, on several occasions, that
one caustic Mexican said that the Trinity there
worshipped were Venus, Bacchus and Birjan.
Waddy Thompson, United States minister to
Mexico about half a century ago, wrote that an
indignant observer of the feast translated the
motto about the image: Non fecit taliter omni
natione, " She never made such fools of any other
nation."

Even at the present time, ladies in black silk
and men in broadcloth, who are intelligent enough
to know better, kneel at this shrine in the beauti-
fully renovated chapel. Yet the story is but a
cunningly devised fable. The historian Icazbal-
ceta, himself a Roman Catholic, reported to Arch-
bishop Labastida that the story had not an historic
leg to stand on. There never was such an ap-
parition; nor any Juan Diego; the image was
painted by some man and used with intent to
deceive.

What good can come of all this idolatrous de-
votion? Do not intelligent bishops and arch-

no Needs of Latin America

bishops blush as they think of the scandal of these
feasts? It would seem not, for the railroads are
to-day used to bring pilgrims by thousands.
There is money in it both for the railroads and for
the church. It will take more than the ridicule of
many Zolas to shake Rome, or Lourdes, or Copo-
cobana, or Guadalupe. The locomotive which
now runs over the ancient causeway to Guada-
lupe, and whistles irreverently before the pic-
turesque old stations of the cross, will carry many
thousands more before the hoary superstition falls
in the dust. Only the quiet yet persistent teach-
ing of the simple gospel of Jesus will lead the
women of Mexico to take the medallions of
Guadalupe from their necks and quench the
candles which now burn before so many of her
images in the inner sanctuaries of their homes.
Then, and only then, will the shrine be left in
silence and desolation.

Another instrumentality used in the New World
was the Inquisition. While this agency could not
be employed against the Indians, its awful pro-
cessions made their due impression on his imag-
ination as well as upon the mind and heart of the
foreign colonists who were the objects of solici-
tude on the part of the Holy Office.

In 1574, " twenty-one pestilent Lutherans "
were executed. From 1575 to 1600 there were
879 processes in Mexico alone; and 1402 in the
following century. Torture was used to make

The Papists in

the victim confess or incriminate others; while
the confiscated goods of the condemned were a
source of revenue to the government and to the
Holy Office.

An eye-witness has left us a description of a
most sumptuous auto de fe held in Mexico City at
the beginning of the seventeenth century. This
account is condensed from the original given in
" Mexico atraves de los Siglos."

Monks attended from all parts of New Spain,
and took part in the long, sombre procession
which wound, with lighted tapers, through the
principal streets of the city, lavishly decorated for
the occasion. The condemned also marched, es-
corted by a strong guard. Crowds packed the
sidewalks and the windows of the houses. Plat-
forms were erected at great cost in the public
square; and the viceroy attended in person.

On a pyramidal platform were placed the 124
penitents, three heretics condemned to the stake,
and nineteen effigies of those whose bodies had
eluded the grasp of the inquisitors. Just beneath
the cross which crowned the summit, was seated
a rebellious Calvinist, at the post of honor. Be-
neath him were Judaizers and those guilty of
witchcraft and blasphemy. The nineteen effigies
were placed at the corners where their inscriptions
could be read. The eye-witness said that it made
a fine sight. The German Calvinist was a man
of nerve and sturdy wit. All day he wore an
irritating smile, and even joked with his guards,

ill Needs of Latin America

telling them not to get tired and yawn too much.
He was gagged when tied to the stake, for fear
of what he might say.

The effigies, when burned, made a fine blaze.
During four succeeding days the 124 penitents
were whipped through the streets of the city, and
some were afterwards sent to the galleys, others
to perpetual imprisonment and their money to the
coffers of the Holy Office. To show all the
world their joy at this vindication of their most
holy faith, the viceroy, with his high officials and
the chief men of the city, went for a public drive.
" May it please God," says the devout eye-witness,
" that all be to his glory ; the confusion of his
enemies, and the praise of Jesus Christ, the
blessed Virgin and all the heavenly court; and
may God prosper this holy and necessary office
to the extirpation of all heresies. Amen."

In 1820 the Inquisition was suppressed forever
in Mexico. Janvier says that " there is a certain
poetic fitness to be found in the fact that the
last years of the Inquisition in Mexico were spent
in combating strenuously the spread of Liberal-
ism; that the last notable auto de fe (November
26, 1815) was that at which the accused was the
patriot Morelos. The finding against him was a
foregone conclusion. ' The Presbitero Jose Maria
Morelos/ declared the inquisitors, ' is an uncon-
fessed heretic (hereje formal negativo), an abet-
tor of heretics, and a disturber of the ecclesiastical

The Papists 113

hierarchy; a profaner of the holy sacraments; a
traitor to God, to the King and to the Pope/ " x

Condemned and turned over to the secular
arm of the law, Morelos " was shot December
22, 1815. But it was the Inquisition that died."
It cannot be doubted that the bitter hatred aroused
against the Dominicans on account of the In-
quisition, helped in the downfall of the religious
orders, at least in Mexico, and in Lima, Peru.

Our picture of the olden days in papal Amer-
ica will not be complete unless we add a few
words about certain popular biographies of some
of the missionary saints. Note well the standard
of moral excellence which they hold up for popu-
lar admiration.

In the history of the papal church in Peru,
three saints of Lima stand out conspicuously,
namely, San Toribio, San Francisco de Solano,
and Santa Rosa de Santa Maria. All three be-
long to the first century of the church in South
America, and the first two were self-sacrificing
missionaries.

We select Santa Rosa for our sketch. Her
biography, which enjoys papal sanction, contains
the story of much useless self-denial. The child
was beautiful and pious. At the tender age of
five years she set aside childish toys and began

1 Guide, p. 205.

H4 Needs of Latin America

her life of prayer, self-torture and penance, even
registering a vow of perpetual virginity. When
a fond mother tried to win her to a love of fine
clothes, she concealed next to her skin instru-
ments of torture. Within a wreath of flowers she
hid pins to prick her delicate flesh. We are
gravely told that a thousand such "pleasing in-
ventions " could be named by which the little
saint tried her own endurance — and that of her
mother.

Three days in the week the child fasted, taking
only bread and water. She liked to mix bitter
herbs or gall with her food. On special fasts she
ate only five bitter orange seeds, and thought on
the gall given Christ to drink. She only grew
plumper and more beautiful on this diet, so that
she had to rub her skin with red peppers to pre-
vent the sinful glances of her youthful admirers.
She hung herself on a cross while saying her
prayers, and then lay down to sleep on thorns
and stones scattered over her bed. She required
but little sleep, and rose early to renew her de-
votions. Thus the story continues. If the Pope
ever read that biography, though I suppose he
did not, how he must have laughed, nay rather,
blushed with shame. What ideal was this to hold
up, with papal sanction, before the women of
Peru ! Looked at from that point of view it ceases
to be amusing, and becomes unspeakably sad.

Brazil rejoices in two notable saints. Of Jose
de Anchieta it is well said that "his self-denial

The Papists 115

as a missionary, his labor in methodizing a bar-
barous language, and his services to the state
were sufficient to secure him an honest fame, and
a precious memory."

In 1582 he founded the famous Misericordia
hospital. His biographer was Simon de Vascon-
cellos, Provincial of Brazil; and Southey's com-
ment on the tale he tells is that for mendacity
of this kind, the Jesuits of Brazil bear off the
palm. It reads like American humor. Anchieta
is called the New World Adam, whom men and
beasts obey, who never sinned as did the first
Adam. The pagan dead rose at his command and
were baptized. Flocks of birds shielded him on
his journeys from the hot rays of the sun. His
garments healed diseases; and after his death,
water which had been poured once over his bones
would effect a thousand cures. Some of his
miracles are said to have been in better taste than
those of the Bible! This biography was sanc-
tioned by the press censors of Lisbon.

John of Almeida was Anchieta's successor.
His life shows what a man can do when he sets
to work to keep his body under, and to save him-
self by penance and good works. But what
knowledge of Christ do men get from the perusal
of such lives ? Is it any wonder that some laugh,
while others turn away in repugnance.

Almeida had a fine assortment of hair and
chain shirts. "He had cilices," says Fletcher,
" for his arms, thighs and legs ; one of which was

1 1 6 Needs of Latin America

fastened around the body with seven chains ; and
another, which he called his good sack, was an
under vest of roughest horse-hair, having on the
inside seven crosses made of iron, and covered
with sharp points, like a coarse rasp or nutmeg
grater. Such was the whole armor of righteous-
ness in which this soldier of Christ clad himself
for his battles with the infernal enemy." He gave
the devil all the odds, for he never disturbed the
fleas and other vermin which drew what susten-
ance they could from his emaciated body. His
fasts were of the hardest kind. When, in old
age, his instruments of torture were taken from
him, he pitifully exclaimed : " What means have
I now wherewith to appease the Lord? What
shall I do to be saved? " This was the. model of
sanctity whom rich and poor alike delighted to
honor. His rags, the blood from his wounds, or
any object that had touched his person, was pre-
served as a sacred miracle-working relic. What
a contrast to the life of our Saviour!

These lives of the saints, and others like them,
show the perversion of the accepted moral and
spiritual standards; and gross ignorance of the
plan of salvation. But what shall we say of the
lives of priests and monks ? They were corrupted
by the acquisition of wealth and power. They
ceased to be missionaries, and, shut up in their
monasteries, led idle, luxurious and often immoral
lives. The religious orders, helpful in the first
century, became, by the third, a positive hindrance

The Papists 117

to progress ; while the priests carried " their love
for the family to paternity " as one foreign eccle-
siastic caustically remarked.

Dr. A. L. Blackford, after sixteen years resi-
dence in Brazil, wrote in 1876, that the moral
results of Romanism " have been graphically
described by the Apostle Paul in the last twelve
verses of the first chapter of the Epistle to the
Romans. Not one word of that tremendous in-
dictment need be changed in reference to Brazil;
and doubtless the same is true in relation to all
the countries where Romanism prevails. It is
amazing to hear men who have access to the Word
of God and the facts of history, and of the actual
state of the world, attempt to apologize for, or
even defend, Romanism. Romanism is not

Christianity There is not an essential

truth of the Christian religion which is not dis-
torted, covered up, neutralized, poisoned and
completely nullified by the doctrines and practises
of the Romish system." *

There is corruption in morals that will not bear
recital, gross ignorance, superstition and practi-
cal idolatry. The intelligent reject the system,
and become infidel, or at least indifferent to all
religion. " Twelve millions of souls in Brazil are
in as urgent need of the gospel as are the pagans
of China, India or Africa; and, as we shall
presently see, are in an extraordinary degree pre-

1 Sketch of Missions, pp. 4, 5.

1 1 8 Needs of Latin America

pared to receive it; yea, more, are urgently be-
seeching that it be sent to them." The united
voices of all the Protestant workers in Latin
America echo these statements and urge this ap-
peal.

To realize the condition of Latin America prior
to the great awakening at the commencement of
this century, we must go to such a country as
Ecuador, and witness its poverty and degrada-
tion; for in the nations which, like Mexico, have
begun to advance, you can no longer see much
that Humboldt, and Waddy Thompson and
Madame Calderon de la Barca so graphically
describe. The testimony of all who have visited
Ecuador corroborates what W. E. Curtis wrote
as an eye-witness, in 1888.

" Bolivar/' he says, " freed Ecuador from the
Spanish yoke . . . but the priests had such a
hold upon the people that liberty could not live
in an atmosphere which they polluted, and the
country lapsed into a state of anarchy which has

continued ever since It is the only

country in America in which the Romish church
survives as the Spaniards left it. ... One
fourth of all the property in Ecuador belongs to
the bishop. There is a Catholic church for every
one hundred and fifty inhabitants. Of the popu-
lation of the country ten per cent, are priests,
monks or nuns; and two hundred and seventy-
two of the three hundred and sixty-five days of

Therapists 119

the year are observed as feasts or fast days. The
priests control the government in all its branches,
dictate its laws and govern their enforcement,
and rule as absolutely as if the Pope were its
king. As a result seventy-five per cent, of the
children born are illegitimate. . . . The peo-
ple know nothing, but what the priests tell
them; they have no amusements but cock-fights
and bull-fights; and no literature. ... If
one-tenth of the money that has been expended
in building monasteries had been devoted to the
construction of cartroads, Ecuador, which is
naturally rich, would be one of the most wealthy
nations, in proportion to its area, on the globe."
" Although Ecuador is set down in the geogra-
phies as a republic, it is simply a popish colony,
and the power of the Vatican is nowhere felt so
completely as here. The return of a priest from a
visit to Rome is as great an event as the declara-
tion of independence; and so subordinated is the
State to the Church that the latter elects the Presi-
dent, the Congress and the judges.

" As recently as 1883 a law was in force pro-
hibiting the importation of any books, periodicals,
or newspapers without the sanction of the Jesuits.
A crucifix stands in the audience chamber of the
President, and another on the desk of the presid-
ing officer of Congress. All the schools are con-
trolled by the church, and the children know more
about the lives of the saints than about the

I2O Needs of Latin America

geography of their own country. There is not
even a good map of Ecuador." *

This statement was published thirteen years
ago, but it can still be quoted as the testimony of
an eye-witness to what might have been seen in
all Latin America before the struggle for religious
liberty; and it is still true, in varying degree, of
many priest-ridden portions of the land. The ad-
vances made in Mexico, and wherever religious
liberty has been won, furnish positive evidence
that on a corrupt church rests, in large measure,
the responsibility for the undeveloped state of all
the Roman Catholic countries which lie south of
the United States.

The mass of evidence is overwhelming for those
who have lived face to face with this debased
form of Romanism. No accumulation of isolated
incidents can make on the mind and heart an im-
pression equal to that which grows upon the
Christian worker who has resided for any con-
siderable time in Brazil, Colombia, Chile or even
in Mexico. A thousand little incidents, innumer-
able side-lights, constant petty tendencies, all
make up a mass of proof that no one studying the
question from the outside can be expected to fully
understand. The traveller will give his chance
impressions; the resident foreigner engaged in
business, when in a communicative mood, will
cite many confirmatory facts; but, as a rule, re-

1 Capitals of Spanish America, pp. 306, 334.

The Papists 121

ligion is not the chief concern of either of these
witnesses. The missionary is, after all, the best
witness in this matter; for he has given much
time to its study. He talks on religious subjects
with many different people; he sees the moral
condition of the community. It is the universal
testimony of all such that the Romanism of Latin
America has failed as a religious guide and edu-
cator. There is need for a reformation similar
to that which awakened Europe in the days of the
great religious reformers. It is both our duty
and our privilege, to oppose truth to error, and
win the victory for the pure gospel against Rom-
ish idolatry.

Lecture III-THE PATRIOTS

He that endures for what his conscience knows
Not to be ill, doth from a patience high

Look only on the suffering cause, whereto he owes
Those sufferings — not on his miseries,

The more he endures, the more his glory grows,
Which never grows from imbecility,

Only the best composed and worthiest hearts

God sets to act the hardest, constant parts.

S. Samuel

1*3

Synopsis of Lecture III

INTRODUCTORY. — Nature of patriot's task.

I. CAUSES OF AWAKENING. — Reorganization of colonies,
Aranda. — Spain's recognition of United States. — French

Revolution. — Napoleon's interference in Spain. — Spanish
" Juntas." — The colonies rise.

II. THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE. — Four centres.

1. Brazil. — Neglected by Portugal. — Early attempts at
independence. — Colony raised to co-ordinate rank with
Portugal. — Independence. — Republic. — Religious liberty.

2. The Spanish colonies. — How organized and governed.
— Restrictions and disabilities. — Encomiendas and reparti-
mientos.

(i.) Buenos Ayres and San Martin. — Spain alienates
loyal colonies. — San Martin raises army at Mendoza.— —
Crosses the Andes into Chile. — Victory of Maypo. — Enters
Lima. — Interview with Bolivar. — Resigns.

(2.) Venezuela and Simon Bolivar. — Bolivar's oath. —
Sketch of his life. — Military career. — Passage of the
Andes. — Victory of Carabobo. — Victory of Ayacucho. — End
of struggle. — Bolivar's character.

(3.) Mexico and Miguel Hidalgo. — Part played by
priests. — Hidalgo's " grito " and march nearly to Mexico
City. — Retreat, final capture and execution. — Ten years of
warfare. — Union of Guerrero and Iturbide. — Final victory.

III. THE STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. — Prepara-
tion necessary. — Bolivar's belief, no creed be prescribed. —
Liberal and clerical party. — Two questions, political and
religious. — Roman Catholic the State church. — Other wor-
ship illegal.

Struggle in Mexico. — Unity of Mexican history. — Five
periods :

1. Period of conquest. — See previous lecture. — Power
and influence of monks.

2. Viceregal period. — Growth of State church in wealth
and power. — Class distinctions. — Struggles between vice-
roys and archbishops of Mexico City. — Unavailing attempts
to curtail power of church. — Expulsion of Jesuits.

3. Period of war for independence. — Priests among
patriots. — Higher clergy favored Spain. — Excommunicated
patriots. — Clergy fearing Spanish constitution, changed
front.

4. Period of Republic. — Ephemeral empire of Iturbide. —
No party opposed to church, fight begins over Patronato,
or appointing power to Episcopal sees. — Accusations against
the church. — Three-cornered game, Liberals, Clericals and
ambitious men after personal advancement. — Relative ad-
vantages of the two parties. — Clerical platform. — Liberal
platform. — French intervention. — Plans of the Pope and
the French Emperor. — Failure of Maximilian. — Juarez'
victory.

Struggle in other countries. — In Guatemala. — Honduras.
— Colombia. — Chile. — Venezuela.

CONCLUSION. — Thus the door opened for entrance of
Protestantism.

124

LECTURE III
The Patriots

Legislators, I shall make mention of an article which
in my conscience I ought to have omitted. No religious
creed or profession should be prescribed in a political
constitution. Simon Bolivar.

We have generous co-laborers within and without the
republic, who with their pens, their influence and their
money are aiding us, and they offer up earnest prayers
for the salvation of our country. Redouble then your
efforts. Benito Juarez.

We are now to witness the third act in the re-
ligious drama of Latin America ; the struggle for
political and religious liberty. This is the work
of a noble band of patriots. Before Protestants
could enter and do their work these countries had
to pass through a transition period of fratri-
cidal warfare. At the time of the conquest the
foreign invader was victor. He conquered the
primitive inhabitants, reduced them to slavery,
and proclaimed their conversion to Christianity.
The mixed race and even the American born
descendants of European parents were made to
feel the yoke of inferiority, weighed down under
vexations, exactions and humiliating disabilities.

Then came the second great struggle. Every-
where the people rose in indignant majesty. In-

"5

Needs of Latin America

dians, mestizos and men of Spanish or Portu-
guese descent united to throw off the yoke of
foreign domination, and but for the attitude of
the United States would have done what they
could to have helped Cuba and Puerto Rico do
the same at that time. The power of the political
oppressor was broken after ten years of fighting,
but the ecclesiastical tyranny remained as op-
pressive as before. This too had to be abolished.
The little leaven of liberty must leaven the whole
lump.

The citizens of the new republics soon began
to grow restive under the absolutism of political
popery. Then began the struggle for religious
liberty, the most magnificent and tragic act in
all the drama. Of one portion of this struggle
Daniel Webster said : " We have a sister republic
on our southern border, almost in mortal agony,
and no one amongst us seems willing to lend it
a helping hand." 1

That struggle is still being waged in many
parts of Latin America, such as Colombia. Ecua-
dor is still hardly awake to her need for religious
liberty; while Mexico for more than thirty years
has enjoyed the fruits of victory.

Let us begin with a brief statement of some
of the influences which led to a desire for politi-
cal independence in the first decades of the nine-
teenth century.

1 Quoted in Mexico in Transition.

The Patriots 127

THe Spanish and Portuguese colonies of Amer-
ica, although isolated and kept as far as possible
in ignorance of passing events, were not wholly
cut off from the influence of Europe and the
United States. After the recognition of the in-
dependence of the latter country by Spain, in
1783, the Count of Aranda, who foresaw the
trend of events, recommended to Charles III. the
reorganization of all his colonial possessions in
America by the establishment of three kingdoms,
namely, Mexico, Peru, and the Spanish Main,
including what is now Venezuela and Colombia.
Over these, members of the Spanish royal family
were to be placed as kings ; and the Spanish mon-
arch was to be supreme, with the title of Emperor.
The scheme was rejected as too chimerical. The
difficulties seemed insuperable, but possibly Spain,
not to mention France, would now like to revive
it under a modified form suited to the present
conditions of political independence.

From time to time there is much talk of a Latin
American alliance, with one or another of these
powers at the head. This was the bee in the
bonnet of Napoleon III. Although the scheme
of Aranda was rejected, thoughtful men could
put two and two together, and it was easy to see
that Spain, by recognizing the independence of
the United States, that is, the right of the Eng-
lish colonies to become independent, weakened
her own hold on the Spanish colonies to the south
of us.

128 Needs of Latin America

The French Revolution, identified to a degree
with the struggle in the United States, exercised
a yet stronger influence on the minds of Latin
American patriots; for, guided perhaps by a de-
gree of race sympathy, the Latin Americans have
always turned to France, even more than to our
country, for the study of the principles of liberty.
Every educated man among them reads French
literature, and is imbued with French political
and philosophical ideas. They love the words:
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity; use the red liberty
cap as an emblem; and have no faith in the di-
vine right of kings. The fact that the radicals
had little respect for religion, least of all for po-
litical popery, did not weaken the hold of French
ideas on the minds of the liberal leaders. The
conditions of the struggle made it more like that
of France, than that of England or the United
States. This will perhaps explain why, until
quite recently, American writers did not rightly
appreciate the nature of the conflicts in Mexico,
Central and South America; and why they have
failed to sympathize, to any considerable extent,
with the great liberal leaders of those lands.

Napoleon also, without any intention of doing
so, helped Latin America most materially in its
fight for freedom. He interfered in Spanish af-
fairs for his own private ends. The situation
thus created served as pretext for a movement
which could only end in entire independence of
the mother country.

The Patriots 129

In 1808, the divided Spanish royal family ab-
dicated in favor of Napoleon, who put his brother
Joseph on the Spanish throne. The American
colonists were, as a rule, hostile both to Joseph
and to the old monarch, Charles IV., but friendly
to Ferdinand VII., whom they wished to see
reinstated. Spain was soon rent by the struggles
of civil war, and while the conflict tasted, Juntas,
of which that of Cadiz was the chief, were or-
ganized to govern in the name of the deposed
monarch. The American colonies hesitated to
accept the authority of these Juntas, preferring to
organize their own, and declaring that the sover-
eignty was represented by the people who would
govern in the name of the monarch. A few were
satisfied with this ingenious fiction; but there
were many more whose ultimate aim was entire
independence. The offer of representation in the
Spanish Cortes came too late to satisfy the
Americans, and only whetted their appetite for
liberty.

It was an epoch of readjustment, and from the
causes named; and, amid the general unrest,
ideas of independence found their way into all
parts of Latin America. One student of the
question tells us that within little more than a
year, the widely separated colonies, with no
chance for preconcerted action (there were no
cables and telegraphs) declared for independence.
" A condition of things had been reached which
made independence a necessity that could not be

130 Needs of Latin America

suppressed, postponed, or evaded." In 1810,
steps looking toward independence, though not
always its actual declaration, were taken " on
April 19, in Caracas ; May 25, in Buenos Ayres ;
July 20, in Bogota; on September 16, in Mexico;
September 18 in Santiago, Chile, and during the
same month of September in most of the other
colonies." x

In order to give unity and coherence to the mul-
titudinous details, and get a clear, general idea
of the whole movement, let us study the struggle
for independence first in the Portuguese Colony
of Brazil, then in Buenos Ayres and Venezuela,
and lastly in Mexico.

The struggle in Brazil is peculiar, from the fact
that Brazil did not become a Republic until a
comparatively recent date. Brazil, during its
early history, suffered at different times from the
attacks of Spaniards, English, French and Dutch ;
and was rather neglected by Portugal; but, after
1640, the Braganzas gave more attention to the
colony.

An early attempt at independence in Sao Paulo
failed. The man selected for leader exhorted the
insurgents to remain true to the crown and then
retired into a convent. During the colonial pe-
riod, Brazil was closed to outside commerce and

1Mex. and U. S.; M. Romero, p. 295. In Miller's
Memoirs, vol. i, p. 61, and Humboldt's Personal Narra-
tive, vol. v, p. 224, similar statements are made, but
some of the dates are placed in 1809.

The Patriots 131

intercourse almost as much as were the China
and Japan of that day. And yet the leaven of
liberty found entrance.

In 1789, Tiradentes made a bold attempt at in-
dependence, only to fail. But in 1808, Napoleon
forced the Prince Regent to save his crown by
taking refuge in Brazil. Once there, John VI.
started a more liberal commercial policy, and the
first printing press was brought to Brazil. The
colony was raised to a co-ordinate rank with the
mother country. Revolutions started, but were
put down, in Pernambuco, Bahia and other
points. In 1821 the people demanded a constitu-
tion; and, in 1822, under the leadership of the
Andradas, Dom Pedro I., the son of John VL,
was proclaimed emperor of independent Brazil.
For his opposition to representative government,
and for other causes, he grew so unpopular that
he thought 'best to abdicate in favor of his son
Dom Pedro II. Under this monarch the coun-
try grew steadily in wealth and population. The
crowning achievement of the emperor in his long
reign, was the emancipation of the slaves, of
whom there were 1,500,000 in the empire in 1872.

No one can read the political history of Brazil
without noticing the frequent reference to revolu-
tionary movements in various cities or provinces ;
and the fact that the Republican party was
slowly but steadily growing in strength. Al-
though the individual movements were sup-
pressed, the pressure at different times became so

132 Needs of Latin America

great that several notable reforms were forced
upon the government.

These forward steps were mainly as follows:
Equality with Portugal, independence of the
mother country, a constitutional monarchy, and
finally, November 15, 1889, a bloodless transition
from an empire to a republic The aged em-
peror, object of universal esteem, was exiled to-
gether with his family, and the republic began
under a provisional ruler. The following year a
constitution similar to that of our own United
States was adopted, and a president was elected.
There have been several later revolutions ; as, for
example, that in Rio Grande do Sul; but the
chief magistracy has been held by worthy men
who have striven to promote the advancement of
their country. In all this work the state and
city of Sao Paulo have played a prominent part.

Perhaps it is just as well to complete our sur-
vey of Brazil by referring here to the question
of religious liberty. The old Portuguese colony
was intolerant of any but the Roman Catholic
church. Liberty of worship was, however, se-
cured by gradual steps, and without a bloody
struggle. This was due in large part, to the
benign character of Dom Pedro II. ; to the fact
that the crown had acquired at an early date the
appointing power to ecclesiastical sees, and had
received and distributed the tithes; and also to
the lateness of the date, 1889, at which the Re-
public was formed.

The Patriots 133

The fifth article of the constitution of the Bra-
zilian empire read as follows : " The Roman
Catholic shall continue to be the established re-
ligion of the State ; all other religions shall, how-
ever, be tolerated with their special worship in
private houses, and in houses designated for this
purpose, without the exterior form of a temple."
This last clause means without steeple or church
bell. The Republican constitution declares the
separation of Church and State, religious liberty
and the equal rights and privileges of all relig-
ious denominations. Thus the door stands wide
open for our propaganda ; although, in Brazil as
elsewhere, public opinion still makes petty perse-
cution easy to inflict and hard to punish in some
localities.

In 1897, the following contrast was drawn, and
it could now be made still stronger. The writer
says: "In 1860, the population of Brazil was
9,000,000, including more than 1,000,000 In-
dians; religious tolerance existed only in name;
the Roman church was a department of State,
and the Jesuits controlled education, hospitals and
public charities; social purity was tainted by a
dissolute priesthood; communication with the in-
terior was by muleback; there were only sixty
miles of railroad; two monthly steamers, and a
few sailing vessels afforded the only communi-
cation with Europe ; the postage of a letter to the
United States was forty-five cents, and the time
consumed in its transit was forty-five days. Now

134 Needs of Latin America

the population is over 14,000,000 ; there are 5,000
miles of railroad, 12,000 miles of telegraph, two
transatlantic cables and twelve lines of trans-
atlantic steamers. . . . The new constitu-
tion authorizes ' separation of Church and State ;
secularity of public cemeteries; the rite of civil
marriage ; and religious liberty/ ' All denomina-
tions have equally the right to liberty of wor-
ship/ " * This is a great advance ; a splendid
victory.

We turn next to the Spanish colonies of South
America, and shall try to take in at a glance the
leading features of their struggle for independ-
ence.

The widely extended possessions of the Span-
ish crown were finally organized under four
viceroyalties : Mexico, Peru, La Plata and New
Granada; and five captaincies: Yucatan, Guate-
mala, Chile, Venezuela and Cuba. It is not nec-
essary to add that, as in the case of Brazil, these
colonies were governed and exploited in the in-
terests of the mother country. For nearly three
centuries, until the French Revolution, and kin-
dred movements called attention to the rights of
man, the colonists submitted, as a matter of
course, and with little more than occasional pro-
tests, to all kinds of injustice. The Spaniards
formed a distinct ruling caste whose interests
were closely identified with those of the home

* Historical Sketches of Presbyterian Missions, p. 306.

The Patriots 135

government. They were in the colonies to get
rich themselves, and to enrich Spain. The
Creoles, or Spaniards born in America, and
their descendants of mixed race, were subjected
to humiliating restrictions and disabilities. They
could not, as a rule, hold any chief office in the
government of the colony ; they were not allowed
to travel abroad without a permit; schools were
few and of inferior quality; and the circulation
of books and papers was discouraged whenever
possible.

At first a special privilege was granted the
provinces of La Plata, allowing them to send an-
nually to the mother country two ships of one
hundred tons burden. Intercolonial commerce
was prohibited under severe penalties. The
mighty waterways of South America were thus
closed for purposes of trade. The system of
encomiendas and repartimentos decimated the
Indians and rilled their hearts with sullen rage.
This found vent from time to time, in local up-
risings; and, on one occasion, in an insurrection
which bade fair to involve all the Indians of the
Andes and which led to barbarous massacres and
great loss of life.

When an Indian went to work in the mines,
the farewell given was as to a man condemned to
death. Worthless goods sent from Europe were
forced upon the natives, often at an exorbitant
price, though entirely unsuited to their wants.
In one case a trader who had received a lot of

136 Needs of Latin America

worthless spectacles, secured from the local au-
thorities a decree that the Indians should wear
spectacles at certain feasts, and thus the lot was
disposed of, at a handsome profit, to Indians who
could not even read.1

The Church, however, grew and prospered in
things temporal, and came to exercise an author-
ity hardly second to that of the secular officers of
the crown. Given the opportunity and the leader,
and the revolt against the long oppression was
sure to come. Napoleon made the opportunity by
his humiliation of Spain, and amid a host of lead-
ers of varying merit two rose to the highest emi-

1 The repartimiento was a privilege originally granted
to the corregidores or governors of districts, with the
best intentions, empowering them to furnish at a fair
price to the Indians, articles of necessary consumption.
This privilege, although regulated by law, inevitably de-
generated, however, into a compulsory and oppressive
exaction. Not only were dying mules, damaged goods,
and other worthless articles forced upon the Indians, at
double or triple the value of the best commodities of the
kind, but razors (for men without beards), silk stock-
ings (for Indians who go barefoot), spectacles (for
people who retain their eyesight unimpaired to very old
age), and articles of luxury, the very use of which was
unknown, formed part of the supplies which they were
compelled to purchase. The collection of the royal
tribute afforded the corregidor another pretence for ex-
actions; while the priests to whose spiritual guardian-
ship the Indians were assigned, plundered them without
mercy of the little which escaped the rapacity of the
governors. " The Modern Traveller, Peru," by Condor.
p. 30.

The Patriots 137

nence in South America: San Martin of Buenos
Ayres and Simon Bolivar of Caracas.

The history of the movement in Buenos Ayres
in its early stages is but another illustration of
Spanish incompetency and obstinacy. As usual
Spain was her own worst enemy. Obliged to
leave the people to defend themselves against
English and Portuguese aggressors, Spain alien-
ated the good will of the loyal colony by refusal
to grant needed reforms and by the denunciation
of the defenders of her authority as insurgents
and traitors. A long and bloody struggle fol-
lowed. Ferdinand VII., when appealed to for the
redress of grievances, replied with new threats;
until, goaded to desperation, the colonists issued
their declaration of independence and carried it
into effect. This was on July 9, 1816.

In the meantime Bernardo O'Higgins and
others had begun a similar struggle in Chile, and
were in need of help. Peru also, which had been
for centuries the stronghold of Spanish author-
ity, could hardly hope to succeed without outside
assistance. The needed aid was to come from
Buenos Ayres. The man to bring it was San
Martin.

Jose de San Martin was a Creole, born in Ya-
peyti, South America, in 1778, educated in Spain,
and imbued with the ideas of Miranda, "the
apostle of South American liberty " ; who, driven
from his homeland, worked from London as a
centre. San Martin rose to eminence in the army

138 Needs of Latin America

of Buenos Ayres, and when the time was ripe to
reach out into the parts beyond, conceived the
plan of crossing the Andes into Chile whence he
could advance on Peru. He resigned his supreme
command of the army, and withdrew to Mendoza
on the frontier. Ladies, we are told, gave their
jewels to aid the cause, and heroic men volun-
teered to serve simply from love of liberty.

The little army grew slowly. San Martin was
helped by the mechanical genius of a monk, Luis
Beltran, who cast shot and cannon for the army.
Mitre calls him the Archimedes of the army of
the Andes.1

In 1817 this band of determined men set out
from Mendoza under a battle flag made by the
women of the town, and adorned with a glowing
figure of the sun, the ancient symbol of the Incas.
Sixty years later it was wrapped about the body
of the hero who had made it immortal. The fate
of the army of liberation hung in the balance,
because of a previous repulse, when, on May 5,
1818, they met the enemy at Maypo. The leader
is said to have exclaimed : " I take the sun to
witness that the day is ours " ; and as he did so
the great luminary rose behind the Andes and
shone upon the banner which bore its image. The
soldiers thrilled at the sight ; and the victory won
that day consolidated the independence of Chile.

Peru yet remained, and the people hesitated to

Butterworth's Translation.

The Patriots 139

do anything themselves, the Spanish forces were
so strong and so well entrenched. Under Lord
Cochrane the army was taken by sea to the port
of Callao, and after much patient waiting and
successful diplomacy the people were induced to
assist in their own liberation and Lima was en-
tered. This was the culmination of San Martin's
triumph. Soon after, to avoid the clash of dif-
ferent plans and opinions, he withdrew, with
noble magnanimity, in favor of Bolivar, with
whom he had a memorable interview and who
was to carry on the work to its final issue.

San Martin, in the proclamation which he is-
sued on leaving Peru, in 1822, made this proud
boast : "I have proclaimed the independence of
Chile and Peru ; I have taken the standard with
which Pizarro came to enslave the empire of the
Incas; and I have ceased to be a public man.
... I have fulfilled my promises to the coun-
tries for which I have fought ; I have given them
independence." 1 It was an act of splendid abne-
gation, worthy the true hearted patriot whom his
country has at last learned to honor. A magnifi-
cent mausoleum now marks his resting place in
the Cathedral at Buenos Ayres.

His victory was not, as he well knew, the end
of the struggle. The Spaniards rallied their
forces. There was work for Bolivar to do before
the final victory could be won. To understand

1 Parish, Buenos Ayres, p. 85.

140 Needs of Latin America

this juncture in the two movements we must turn
our gaze northward, and note what had been
going on for several years in Venezuela and
Colombia.

Simon Bolivar is universally proclaimed as the
greatest hero of the struggle for independence in
South America. He drew his inspiration in part,
from Miranda; from what he witnessed of the
French Revolution in Paris; from his study of
the United States; and from his admiration for
George Washington. On the sacred Aventine
Mount in Rome, as far back as 1805, he had
pledged himself to the liberation of his native
land; and right nobly did he redeem that pledge.

Returning from Europe, in 1809, he passed
through the United States and made a personal
study of the working of our free institutions. He
brought Miranda to Caracas, and, when on July
5, 1811, Venezuela declared her independence, he
took a prominent part in the movement.

His career as a soldier was marked by every
kind of good and evil fortune; now victorious,
now driven into exile by overwhelming defeat;
anon, narrowly escaping assassination. But he
was always ready, sooner or later, to resume the
struggle, either in Colombia, or in Venezuela.
He crossed the Andes with his army, leading the
soldiers through the cold and snow of the high
altitudes, a feat worthy to be compared to Han-
nibal's passage of the Alps. He eventually in-
flicted an overwhelming defeat upon the Span-

The Patriots 141

iards at Carabobo. The vanquished remained
shut up in Puerto Bello until their surrender two
years later to General Paez ; when Venezuela and
New Granada were united under the name of
Colombia.

Bolivar, however, was not yet ready to sheathe
his sword. He went to the help of the valiant
Sucre, who had gained brilliant victories in Ecua-
dor and Peru. Quito fell into their hands in
1822; and on Dec. 9, 1824, the patriots and
Spaniards met at Ayacucho. After an hour of
desperate struggle the patriots triumphed, and
liberty was practicably achieved, although the
Spaniards held on for a little while longer to Cal-
lao, their last stronghold. Upper Peru was or-
ganized into a new state and named Bolivia, in
honor of the liberator. The different republics
vied with one another in honoring the victorious
hero; and this formed the happiest period in his
career. A little later differences of opinion grew
into dissensions. There were mutual recrimina-
tions; Bolivar resigned his authority and died on
the way to exile ; his death being hastened, in all
probability, by the accusations of his detractors.

He gave his time and wealth to the cause of
liberty, in which he also spent the strength of his
manhood; and when all the difficulties which he
overcame are taken into account, we see that he
deserves to be ranked as one of America's great-
est heroes ; as one of the fathers of American in-
dependence. All Spanish America now delights

142 Needs of Latin America

to do him honor. He was sincere when he said :
" My only ambition is the freedom of my fellow
citizens. My love of the independence of South
America has caused me to make different sacri-
fices, sometimes in peace, sometimes in war. I
shall never refuse these sacrifices, because he who
abandons all to be useful to his country loses
nothing, but gains all he consecrates." " In his
day Bolivar was South America. His heart,
thoughts and deeds were her pulse beat and her
destiny." A

A truth uttered by Bolivar, is as strikingly ex-
emplified in the history of Mexico's struggle, as
in that of South America. He said : " The seed
of liberty yields its just fruit. If there is any-
thing which is never lost, it is the blood which is
shed for a just cause." 2

It is not possible to mention, by name, the
many martyrs who shed their blood that Mexico
might be free. Nor can we follow in detail the
ten years' struggle, with its innumerable battles,
its frequent victories, and more frequent defeats.
The two great heroes in the first stage of the
movement were priests, Hidalgo and Morelos. A
third, Matamoros, was a general of the latter. The
initiative was taken by Hidalgo on Sept. 16, 1810,
when he rang the bell of the parish church of
San Miguel, and started forth with the little com-

1 South Am. Butterworth, p. 67.
* Idem, p. 66.

The Patriots 143

pany thus gathered. He was himself an edtn
cated, thoughtful man, of quiet manners, and
pleasing address, more of a philosopher than a
general; but, withal a born leader of men. Al-
lende, a captain in the Spanish army, became his
chief general, and divided the honors of supreme
command.

While on the march, Hidalgo took from the
chapel of Atotonilco a picture of the Virgin of
Guadalupe and made it his battle flag. This
aroused the religious fanaticism of the Indians
who flocked to the new standard, hoping to
avenge their wrongs upon the hated Spaniards.
The massacre of hundreds who were taken pris-
oner is the one blot on the career of Hidalgo as a
general. He soon became master of Guanajuato
and Morelia, and cities of lesser note; until, at
last, after defeating the Spaniards at Las Cruces,
he stood upon the summit of the mountains which
overlook the city of Mexico, and gazed upon the
magnificent panorama of that most beautiful of
valleys.

How his heart must have thrilled, and how he
must have longed to advance and take the capital
city and end the struggle. But his army was
only a rabble of 100,000 undisciplined, poorly
armed men and with but little ammunition. He
dared not hurl them against disciplined troops and
a fortified city. Some still question the wisdom of
his course. They say he had gone too far to
turn back. Be that as it may, he withdrew, and

144 Needs of Latin America

after the varying fortunes of war was captured
and shot on July 30, 1811.

Then followed ten years of bloody, guerrilla
warfare in all parts of Mexico. From time to
time some leader would rise into prominence only
to disappear in defeat. For several years Morelos
and his generals maintained a bold front in Guer-
rero and the South, and at one time it seemed as
though they would win against all odds.

Morelos is famous for his hundred victories,
and for his successful resistance when besieged in
Cuautla. But he was taken prisoner, tried be-
fore a revived court of the Inquisition, and shot.
Finally it seemed as though the only hope of
the nation was centred in Vincente Guerrero,
who still held his army together in the moun-
tain fastnesses of the state since so justly called
by his name. The struggle might have dragged
its weary length indefinitely across the years,
had not Iturbide joined forces with Guerrero,
united opposing elements for the time and forced
O'Donoju, the last of the viceroys, to recognize
the independence of Mexico. Guatemala and the
rest of Central America followed, and all Latin
America, save Cuba and Puerto Rico, was free
and independent.

The people had won their political liberty. An-
other long struggle was to follow before they
were to learn how to use it wisely; for some of
the new republics are still very far from having

The Patriots 145

learned the lesson. This slowness and inability
will not surprise us if we contrast the education
in self-government enjoyed by the Anglo-Saxon
colonists with its lack among the Latin Ameri-
cans. One of their earlier statesmen remarked:
" Ours is as yet but the A. B. C. of government ;
the beginnings of which had better be kept out
of view." The people have had to learn that
there is " no such thing as liberty in the abstract,"
that public opinion must be educated in the usages
of peaceful discussion, and that revolutions are
not a panacea for all political ills. Self-control
had to be acquired. The press had to be unmuz-
zled and allowed to suggest and criticize. The
countries so long isolated had to be opened for
free contact with the world. For all this, time
was needed. The wonder is, not that the progress
has been so slow, but that so much has been done
under such unfavorable conditions. The veterans
in the great struggle did well to wave their tat-
tered battle flags and shout : " Liberty and inde-
pendence ! "

Political independence was a step in the right
direction, but its fruits could not be enjoyed to the
full, or even ripen properly, until religious liberty,
with its attendant popular education, freedom of
the press, and right of private judgment, had
been secured. We are now to witness the strug-
gle for religious liberty.

A Mexican friend said to the writer: Did you
ever notice that until the flag stamped with the

146 Needs of Latin America

Virgin of Guadalupe was replaced by the Mexi-
can tricolor, independence was not achieved?
Bolivar also said of the clause in one of his con-
stitutions, which made the Roman Catholic the
exclusive religion, that his conscience told him
that it ought to be omitted ; that " no religious
creed or profession should be prescribed in a po-
litical constitution." Unfortunately he was in ad-
vance of his age, and only a few men were edu-
cated to the point where they saw the need and
the value of religious liberty.

In the study of this chaotic period of revolu-
tions, we shall find it hard to thread our way
through the long labyrinth of cross purposes
which often express nothing but personal ambi-
tion. Yet, after further study, we shall find that
the leaders were divided into parties on two prin-
cipal questions. One was the question of a fed-
eral government with states similar to those of
our own United States ; or a more centralized re-
public, like that of France, divided into depart-
ments. The other issue was between a conserva-
tive or clerical party, and a liberal party, the lat-
ter being sometimes violent in its opposition to
the church. Often the two issues were combined,
and the liberals were also federalists; while the
clerical party believed in a more centralized form
of republic, or openly favored monarchy.

All the constitutions of the new Spanish repub-
lics contained articles which declared the Roman

The Patriots 147

Catholic Church to be the established church, and
making it the only one allowed by law. This
action was natural at that time, and all the far-
reaching consequences were not foreseen. The
debate in the Peruvian Congress was an interest-
ing one ; and throws light on the whole question.
We have, in his published letters, the statements
of Mr. James Thomson, an agent of the B. F. B.
S., who was present in Lima at the time. This
was in 1822. The article as submitted read:
" The religion of the state is the Catholic, Apos-
tolic Church of Rome." 1 The fight was on the
word " only " or " exclusive " which one of the
Committee on Constitution wished to have in-
serted. The first speaker in the public debate on
this amendment was a Roman Catholic clergy-
man who read from a Bible Society New Testa-
ment i Cor. i: 12, 13 which speaks of the divi-
sions in the Corinthian church. He wished the
Article to read, " The religion of Jesus Christ is
the religion of the State." He deprecated any
kind of persecution or compulsion.

Another speaker also arose with the Bible in
his hands and quoted from the writings of Moses
two passages which enjoined the kindly treatment
of strangers. It was evident that the only Prot-
estants he had in mind were foreigners.

1 Letters on the Moral and Rel. State of S. Am., J.
Thomson, pp. 60, 63 and 108.

148 Needs of Latin America

Still another clergyman, of advanced age, ad-
vocated Christ's law of love. The conservative
element, however, was too strong and the article
as adopted read : " The Roman Catholic Apostolic
Religion is the religion of the state and the ex-
ercise of every other is excluded."

Speaking on this same theme another congress-
man once remarked to Mr. Thomson : " Why
such ado about toleration. We ourselves do not
need any such thing, and the foreigners who are
here seem very little concerned about the sub-
ject. It was not religion that brought them to
this country, but commerce. Give them money,
therefore, in exchange for their goods, and they
will seek nothing else."

Among those who entered a protest when tol-
eration was denied was a priest at the head of the
principal college in Lima. The fact is they ex-
pected all their countrymen to remain good Ro-^
man Catholics, and the question was discussed as
related to foreigners, or as purely philosophical.
" Now," says Mr. Thomson, " can you tell me
when such things took place in any other country
and originating wholly from a philosophical view
of the matter?"

Long debates on the same question occurred in
the Mexican Congress, in which the liberals took
the same high stand. The fact is, the conflict be-
tween Church and State, as fought out in Mexico,
is so fine and finished an example of this struggle,

The Patriots 149

that it will probably be more profitable for us to
describe it somewhat in detail, instead of giving
a general statement about all the republics in
turn.

This is the conflict which from the very outset,
has given unity and logical sequence to the
long periods of revolution which make such
dreary wastes in the history of this long-suffering
people. For greater clearness of treatment we
must go back to the time of the Conquest, and
refer again to the forces which then began to
work.

We have the period of the planting of Roman
Catholicism among the Indians ; and the vice-
regal period, in which forces and tendencies were
developed which hint at the nature of the coming
conflict. Then follows the war for independence,
which we have just described; and lastly the
rivalries of the liberal and clerical parties under
the republic. Mr. Jose M. Vigil in his treatment
of this theme says in substance that " superficial
critics will perhaps see only a chaotic mass of
revolutions, without rhyme or reason, and there-
fore doubt the ability of the Mexican people ever
to maintain a stable government. This is because
such critics fail to see that the causes which made
possible the career of Santa Anna and Maximilian
were at work from the very beginning of the so-
cial evolution of the Mexican people. Few peo-
ples, indeed, present an historical unity as homo-

150 Needs of Latin America

geneous, compact and harmonious, so to speak,
as Mexico offers to the eyes of a close observer." *

Hon. Matias Romero, a statesman and student
of Mexican history, says practically the same
thing in his study of the causes and philosophy
of the Mexican revolutions. Of the struggle from
1821-1867, he says : " It is no wonder that such
a struggle should last nearly fifty years, when it
is taken into consideration that Mexico passed
during that period, through complete social and
political evolution, while, in the older countries
of Europe, similar changes have required the
lapse of centuries and the shedding of torrents of
human blood/* 2

Cortes, while he advocated the sending of mis-
sionaries to convert the Indians of Mexico, urged
the Spanish monarch, in order to avoid abuse of
power, not only to appoint the priests and monks,
but also to provide for their maintenance thus
placing them absolutely under the control of the
civil authority. The plan was not carried out in
its entirety; but its proposal affords abundant
evidence of the difference between our point of
view, and that of all who have grown up in Latin
America. We believe in the entire separation of
church and state. They inherit the traditions of
a state church.

We have already told the story of monkish mis-

*Mex. at. Siglos, vol. v.
*Mex. and U. S., p. 394.

The Patriots 151

sion work in Mexico. It is only necessary to
point out, in this connection, that the priests and
monks enjoyed many immunities and privileges,
incident to the commencement of a work like
theirs, which they would be slow to relinquish
later on ; and which would be almost sure to bring
them into conflict with the civil authorities. Their
spheres of jurisdiction overlapped. The monks
claimed and exercised the right to punish native
offenders, to settle disputes between Indian con-
verts, and to defend the rights of the Indians
against civil officers. In spite of continual rival-
ries between priests and monks, the clergy had a
strong organization and could hold their ground
against all opponents. The Indians looked upon
them as their protectors and followed them with
blind and superstitious devotion.

During the long viceregal period, which cov-
ered nearly three centuries, the hold of the church
on all classes was enormously strengthened. In
those days there were very strong class distinc-
tions in Mexico, as in all the rest of Latin Ameri-
ca. The hewers of wood and drawers of water,
the laborers in the fields and toilers in the mines,
the burden bearers, in every sense of the word,
were the Indians, who suffered in angry silence.
Next above them came the mixed race and the
Creoles, of varying degrees of wealth and culture.
We have already dwelt upon their deprivation of
political and commercial rights under the colonial
government. At the top were three privileged

Needs of Latin America

classes, not to say four, as a rule, and these were
of pure Spanish descent. They were the civil
officers of high rank, the merchant princes, the
leaders of the army, and the high ecclesiastical
dignitaries. As long as all these were in accord
the leaders of the independent forces could make
but little headway ; but when the church threw in
its influence with the patriots they speedily tri-
umphed.

The strength of the church had already been
shown in several struggles between different vice-
roys and archbishops of Mexico. Take for exam-
ple the fight in 1624, between Archbishop Juan
Perez de Serna, and the Viceroy, the Marquis of
Gelves. The viceroy had taken a decided stand
against certain abuses. He attacked the practice,
followed by some men and women of having por-
traits of their lovers painted with the insignia of
saints and placed in their rooms. He also ex-
communicated those who sold pulque to the In-
dians in Xochimilco, and denounced the abuses
which occurred at certain processions in Lent.

At the command of the Audiencia he withdrew
his censures, but complained to the king. The
new viceroy told the archbishop what he thought
of all this and accused him of taking gifts and
having a butcher's shop in his house where he
sold meat at a high price. The prelate resented
the insult. The fight began and people took sides.
Other matters of a similar kind came up until, at
length, affairs were brought to a crisis by the at-

The Patriots . 153

tempt to set a guard over Melchor Perez, who was
guilty of certain abuses and had fled for refuge
to the convent of Santo Domingo. The arch-
bishop ordered the withdrawal of the guard set
by the viceroy, whose presence he regarded as a
violation of ecclesiastical immunities. Then Serna
and Perez plotted against the viceroy, and the
prelate excommunicated the viceroy. The bishop
of Puebla removed the ban of excommunication ;
then the archbishop was removed by force from
the city, and the populace made threats against
the officers of the law. The archbishop was taken
as far as Teotihuacan, a few miles from the
city, whence he put the capital under interdict.
This angered the people against the viceroy; the
palace was attacked and set on fire; and a priest
absolved all who took part in the attack.

When the tumult was at its height the arch-
bishop returned followed by 4,000 men. The
bells pealed forth their joy; the churches were
reopened; and the viceroy was virtually deposed
and forced to flee. The only punishment inflicted
on the archbishop by the king was to transfer him
to another see. This leniency served only to in-
crease the arrogance of the clergy. Thus, at that
early date, we find in the New World a conflict
similar to that once waged between the Pope and
the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire; and
which was to lead to bloody warfare on the Amer-
ican continent as it had done in Europe. The dis-
tance of the American colonies from their mon-

1 54 Needs of Latin America

arch, and the slowness of communication with
Spain, made this power of the clergy an even
greater menace to liberty here than there.

The growing wealth and power of the clergy,
in all his American dominions, was pointed out
to the Spanish monarch by his more observant
counsellors. There were efforts after reform, but
the fatal mistake was made of attempting to se-
cure the consent of the clergy to the curtailment
of their own power; a request which they nat-
urally refused. History shows us that it is only
with a strong hand that such changes are effected ;
and only after the evil has become so great that
the people rise and compel reform. The only ef-
fective blow struck was that aimed at the Jesuits,
who were expelled in 1767; but this made no
change in the relations between church and state,
and the Jesuits subsequently returned, although
never to take up mission work as before.

It is true that, during the war for independ-
ence, from 1810-1821, many of the leaders in the
patriot army were priests; but they were de-
nounced, anathematized and excommunicated by
the bishops; and, when captured, were degraded,
tried before a revived court of the Inquisition,
and handed over to the secular authorities to be
executed.

Some of the bishops made themselves ridicu-
lous by the number and violence of their anathe-
mas; and also by their pusillanimity in with-
drawing the same whenever the patriots gained

The Patriots 155

control in their Episcopal cities. It all went to
show that the clergy, as an organized body, put
the retention of its power and wealth above the
independence and prosperity of the people as a
whole. It was this attitude which has led to the
frequent denunciation of the Mexican clergy by
liberal orators, as having thrice proved themselves
traitors to their country, namely in the struggle
for independence, the war of American invasion
in '46, and the French intervention and the empire
of Maximilian, in the sixties.

And yet, strange as it may at first seem, it was
the clergy who, by a change of front, shortened
the first of these conflicts, and turned the scale in
favor of independence. They deserve no spe-
cial credit for this, since they seem to have been
animated by purely selfish motives.

After ten years of guerrilla warfare the royal
troops, supported by the Spaniards and the clergy
seemed to have triumphed over the patriots in all
but one region. There were guerilla bands under
Victoria and others, but only Guerrero had what
might be called an army.

Iturbide, who had been successful as a royalist
commander, and who had won an unenviable rep-
utation because of his personal greed and his
cruel severity in dealing with his patriot oppo-
nents, had been for some time idle in Mexico City,
and was, in all probability, piqued by the manner
in which he had been ignored. He was suddenly
summoned into the presence of the viceroy and

156 Needs of Latin America

asked if he would take command of an army and
crush Guerrero. To this proposition he at once
consented, but the viceroy was completely in the
dark as to the reason for such acceptance. He
was to act not as the agent of the viceroy, but of
the priests.1

We now know something of the secret his-
tory of that period. In 1812 a constitution was
given to Spain and her colonies. It was soon set
aside, though welcomed with joy in Mexico; but
it was again enforced in 1820. There were
clauses in this constitution which the clergy did
not like, and which they regarded as an attack on
their authority. They thought they could retain a
firmer hold on their prerogatives should Mexico
cut loose from Spain. They, therefore, decided
to mount and drive the car of state. They met
in secret conclave, we are told, and chose Iturbide
for their charioteer; that is, as the general of
their army.

No one, not in the secret, had any reason to
doubt his loyalty to the cause of the viceroy. It
was not very difficult for priestly influence to se-
cure his appointment to command the army sent
against Guerrero. Finding that he could not
crush Guerrero, and then turn back alone to win
independence, he made an alliance with the re-

'Mr. Vigil's description of their manipulation of af-
fairs is intensely interesting, and, withal, instructive.
Mex. at. Siglos, vol. v.

The Patriots 157

publican leader. Thus was a sudclen, unexpected,
surprising change wrought, with no bloody bat-
tles, and in the space of a few months. The army
of liberation grew by defection from the forces
of the viceroy, and Iturbide was everywhere ac-
claimed as the popular hero, his former opposi-
tion being forgotten in the joy of the moment.
While in authority he did what he could to con-
solidate the power of the church, and, even as
emperor, was subservient to the party which had
made possible his phenomenal success, and which
still speaks of him as the great leader in the war
for independence.

With the coming of independence the contest
centred about a new point which was disputed
with great bitterness. The Emperor Iturbide was
soon overthrown and later was shot. The re-
publican party came into power, drafted a con-
stitution, and elected a president. The republi-
can leaders of that day were all devoted to the
church, and had no intention to separate church
and state. In spite of the abolishment of the In-
quisition, the disrepute into which Episcopal
anathema had fallen by its unavailing use against
the patriot leaders; and the ludicrous fact that
the Virgin Mary was divided against herself,
serving under the name of Virgin of the Remedies
as a general in the Spanish army, and as the
Virgin of Guadalupe in that of the patriots; the
people, from long habit, were still devoted to the
papacy. There was, however, one point at issue ;

158 Needs of Latin America

and the conceding of this demand of the clergy
would have made the Church stronger and more
absolute under the republic than when Mexico
was under the Spanish monarchs.

The monarchs by concessions from the Pope,
exercised the right of appointment to episcopal
sees, subject to papal approval. When inde-
pendence was won, the clergy of Mexico claimed
that the patronato, as it was called, was not
vested in the Chief Magistrate of the New Re-
public, but had reverted to the Church. The ultra
clerical party sustained this view, while another
party was formed which declared it to be the
right of the Mexican President.

We need not go into the details of the struggle.
Both parties appealed to the Pope, who, of course,
did not wish to decide against the Church, and,
therefore, put them off with evasive answers. A
little greater firmness on the part of the govern-
ment at the outset might have ended the matter;
but this difference of opinion was allowed to serve
as the entering wedge, and the breach widened
until Church and State were cleft asunder.

The Church had overrated her power to con-
trol the situation. Had she yielded, a different
turn might have been given to affairs. Insistence
embittered opposition, and thus the liberal party
came into being. Statesmen began to study the
question in all its aspects, and to put their own
interpretation on the Church's use of her vast
wealth to maintain political supremacy. As the

The Patriots 159

struggle intensified, and the liberal leaders grew
bolder and more outspoken, impassioned charges
were made. The clergy were accused of gross
immorality, and the need of a moral reformation
was dwelt upon. They were accused of failure to
be true to their trust. Attention was called to
the enormous wealth of the Church, covering
vast territories, with millions of ready money at
command for loans and for political uses. Ro-
mero says that at one time the Church controlled
two-thirds of the wealth of Mexico. What use,
men asked, was being made of this enormous
wealth? Large sums, said they, are being em-
ployed, not in promoting the moral and spiritual
interests, entrusted to her care, but to buy up
political leaders and help pay armies to fight the
battles which should make permanent her politi-
cal supremacy.

The union of Church and State furnished an
argument against the clergy which acted like the
boomerang which unexpectedly returns to smite
the man who hurls it. The argument of the
liberal leaders was as follows, and it seems to
be cogent. They said in substance : The Church
is recognized and supported as a part of the
State by the people — who are the State — to do
for the people a certain moral and spiritual
work. The great wealth of the clergy is due
to grants, gifts, contributions, special privileges,
and laws, such as that of the tithe; all hav-
ing in view the moral benefit to accrue to the

160 Needs of Latin America

people. In a sense, also, this wealth, given to an
established Church, or arm of the State, belongs
to the government, whose trustees, charged with
its wise and proper administration, are the clergy.
If now the clergy refuse to recognize the appoint-
ing power of the State, the trust can be taken
from them as rebellious agents. If, farther, they
misuse funds meant for purely religious purposes,
by employing them against the State and in
fomenting revolutions, they are false to their
trust and have forfeited these possessions, which
were never exclusively theirs, but belonged to the
Church as part of the State. These funds and
properties, if forfeited by unworthy ecclesiastical
administrators, must revert to the State. The
property, said they, is not confiscated, in the popu-
lar meaning of the word, but nationalized ; that is,
returned to the nation to be used as it shall deem
best.

This, I believe to have been the gist of the ar-
gument which gathered voice and volume as the
struggle went on, and the liberals waxed eloquent
and angry. Granted the premises, and the rea-
soning looks suspiciously like a syllogism, which
is a dangerous weapon, especially in the hands of
philosophical theorists, who are also practical
statesmen.

There was also another kind of argument, very
practical in its results, which friend and foe alike
used with commendable pertinacity. It served
to drain the Church of its treasure, little by little,

The Patriots 161

with no corresponding benefit to the State or the
people.

With all my Protestant beliefs in the per-
niciousness of the system that was wrecked be-
tween the Scylla and Charybdis of the two par-
ties, I cannot help sympathizing with the bishops
in their terrible dilemma. They had heaped up
wealth and adorned their churches with costly
ornaments of gold and silver, and precious stones.
The Church always had money hidden away some-
where. The government, on the other hand, was
always short of funds. The liberals, when in
power, after first fears had been blunted, stripped
the churches or secured forced loans from the
clergy; and justified themselves on the ground
that all belonged to the people ; that they were the
people, and were engaged in fighting the people's
battles. Then the conservatives, when their turn
came to rule, demanded similar sacrifices from the
Church, because, said they, we are fighting your
battles, and you ought to help pay the cost; for,
without us, you will lose everything. So, friend
and foe vied with one another in this scramble
for the golden eggs, and any one could see that,
some day, somebody would try to kill the goose
that laid them; and this actually became the
avowed purpose of the radicals.

If now we turn to the political leaders in this
exciting struggle, we shall find that some, in
both parties, were sincere in their actions, while
others were in politics for what they could make

1 62 Needs of Latin America

out of it. In other words they were in the market,
and at the service of the highest bidder. It was
a three-cornered game, played by the Liberals, the
Conservatives, and certain ambitious men who
were after personal advancement.

Such an one was Santa Anna, who tried to use
both parties to advance himself; while they tried
to use him for their purposes. This unscrupulous
politician was sought after by both parties be-
cause of his supposed military ability. Others
tried to play the same role, but without Santa
Anna's skill. But, below this surface play of
personal greed, there were struggling for the
mastery two mighty currents. Let us ignore the
side eddies and watch the mighty current of re-
form as it flows over and conquers the opposing
conservatism and sweeps onward in the Mexico
of to-day.

Iturbide, Santa Anna, Miramon and Maximil-
ian were, in turn, the chosen standard bearers of
the clerical party. The most extravagant terms
were used by the clerical party to describe their
situation. For example, in 1834, Santa Anna
appeared as their deliverer from the liberal
party.

The Clergy of Mexico City, after describing
the " destructive tempest," and the " cloud of
• persecutions which shook and almost over-
whelmed" the "beautiful little ship of Peter;"
the " dispersion and banishment of worthy pas-
tors; the tears and dolorous weeping of its vir-

The Patriots 163

gins ; the vows and sighs of devout souls," which
would lead one to imagine that there had been a
persecution as violent as that of Domitian, when
there was really nothing of the sort, add that
toward the end of April " there unexpectedly ap-
peared a brilliant star, whose beauty, clearness and
splendor, announced to us, as in other times to the
three fortunate Magi, the approach of justice and
peace, and that it was already in our land. . . .
It was the sudden arrival of his excellency, the
President Don Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
. . . whose religious and patriotic sentiments
signalize him eternally as a hero worthy of the
love and recognition of the whole American na-
tion. . . . Let the man be a thousand times
blessed who with such skillful hand has known
how to return to God his lawful inheritance. His
memory will be eternally and gratefully cherished
until the consummation of the ages and his crown
will be precious and not to be lost through all
eternity."

A committee was sent to carry this fulsome
flattery to Santa Anna, and to thank him officially
as the benefactor of the church; and the clergy
were enjoined to remember him in their public
prayers. The bishop of Puebla decreed a thanks-
giving service of three days duration, and lav-
ished praise on Santa Anna and denunciation on
the Liberals.

This will afford some idea of the intensity of
passion aroused, and of the tactics of the clerical

164 Needs of Latin America

party which could hail a man like Santa Anna as
a new Messiah.

On the other side, long before our Protestant
missionaries entered Mexico, there was formed a
group of studious men, animated by philosophical
ideas about the rights of man, who had caught
the spirit of liberty and had resolved to be free.
These men had come to see that political liberty,
without religious liberty, was an impossibility
under a dominant papal church.

We shall not follow the struggle between
these two parties step by step, but take up only
the last battle royal, the war of the reform, which
was really a war against the empire. The religi-
ous issue was at last clearly stated and fought
out to a finish in ten long years of bloody strug-
gle, from 1857 to 1867; and February 5, the
day on which the new constitution was promul-
gated, is still celebrated as a national holiday.

Let us now put side by side with the liberal pro-
gram, as found in their Constitution and Laws of
Reform, that of the Clericals, taken from the Plan
de Tacubaya.

The clerical platform had the following planks :

1. Inviolability of church property and reve-
nues.

2. Reestablishment of the fueros or special
rights of the church.

3. The ROMAN CATHOLIC to be the SOLE and

EXCLUSIVE RELIGION.

The Patriots 165

4. Censorship of the Press.

5. Immigration only from Roman Catholic
countries.

6. Establishment of a dictatorship, responsible
to the church.

7. A Monarchy or European Protectorate for
Mexico, if possible.

The planks in the Liberal platform were :

1. Establishment of a constitutional, federal
government.

2. Freedom and protection to slaves.

3. FREEDOM OF RELIGION.

4. Freedom of the Press.

5. Nationalization of church property.

6. Abolition of special tribunals for church and
army.

7. Treaties to foment trade with foreign coun-
tries.

8. Mexico open to immigrants of all creeds
and countries.1

The Laws of Reform prohibited street preach-
ing or religious processions, and forbade the
clergy to use ecclesiastical vestments on the
streets. All monastic orders were suppressed.
The Jesuits were expelled and marriage was made
a civil contract. The issue was clearly stated be-
tween the two parties. It was not to be fought

1 Mexico in Transition, pp. 120, 121.

1 66 Needs of Latin America

out merely with ballots, but with bullets, in a
long fratricidal war. The struggle is worthy to
rank with the foremost of the reformatory con-
flicts of the world.

The Liberals were guided in their fight by a
truly great leader, a man of Indian race, Don
Benito Juarez. Juarez first saw the light in 1806,
in the little Indian village of Guelatao, a short
distance northeast of Oaxaca. There he tended
his uncle's scanty flock, a shepherd boy like
David. On the death of his parents, animated by
a desire to study, he went to live with a sister in
Oaxaca. Of pure Indian descent, he had, up to
that time, spoken the Indian language, and so
was obliged to learn Spanish when already twelve
years of age. He soon showed marked ability and
was urged to enter the priesthood, but refused on
account of his liberal ideas. He studied law in-
stead, was admitted to the bar in 1834, and be-
came Governor of his state which he made the
most prosperous in the Republic.

Exiled by Santa Anna, he fled to the United
States, where he supported himself with great
difficulty, but used his opportunity to study the
working of our free institutions.

After his return, he was elected vice-presi-
dent of the republic, and on the defection of
Comonfort, assumed the Chief Magistracy.
He was endowed with indomitable will and suf-
ficient clearness of purpose and constancy to fight
the battle through to a finish. To this fact he owes

The Patriots 167

his lofty preeminence. Competent judges now
rank him side by side with our own Lincoln, as
one of the great reformers of the New World.
Victor Hugo wrote to Juarez : " America has two
heroes, Lincoln and thee — Lincoln by whom slav-
ery has died ; and thee by whom liberty has lived.
Mexico has been saved by a principle, by a man.

THOU ART THAT MAN."

Washington and Bolivar were his ideal heroes.
The Duke of Alva was the hero of Maximilian,
we are told.1 There is a fine poetic justice in the
fact that the opponent of Maximilian, Archduke
of the royal house of Austria, the tool of Pius
IX. and of the French emperor, should be a man
of the oppressed native race, " our little Indian "
as his countrymen affectionately called him.

The struggle was, in a sense, the continuation,
on American soil of the fight begun by Luther.
It was, — as their writers love to phrase it, —
changing the chronological order, but adhering
to the traditional site of the transfiguration, — the
tragedy of a nation passing from her Calvary of

1 Motley wrote of him : " Maximilian adores bull
fights, rather regrets the Inquisition and considers the
Duke of Alva everything noble and chivalrous, and the
most abused of men. It would do your heart good to
hear his invocation to that deeply injured shade, and
his denunciations of the ignorant and vulgar Protestants
who had defamed him. . . . You can imagine the
rest." He says also that Maximilian believed in his
" divine mission to reestablish the true church. . . .
Poor young man ! "— Corresp. vol. ii, p. 138.

i68 Needs of Latin America

national crucifixion, to Tabor, the mount of her
glorious transfiguration.

This daring figure, which contains no inten-
tional irreverence to the Master, explains, better
than any words of mine can do, the surging emo-
tions which stirred the heart of the patriot sons
who fought in the long and bloody struggle.

First came the three years' conflict known as
the war of the Reform, which ended with Juarez'
triumphal entry into Mexico City, and the nation-
alization of much church property. The old San
Franciscan convent harbored a circus troupe until
bought by the Methodist Mission. A former
chapel became our Presbyterian house of worship
some years later. Another old church became a
correctional school; the Belem convent, the
national prison; while old San Augustin is now
the public library building, and the hated halls
of the Inquisition, where men were tortured, held
first a Lancasterian school; and, at present,
shelters those who practice the healing art, the
National School of Medicine. Many streets have
been opened through the grounds once closed
within high walls, and some old churches have
become railway stations. Changes such as these
are typical of the transition from medieval to
modern Mexico. It was heroic treatment, but
heroic treatment alone avails in diseases so dan-
gerous and so deeply seated.

The clerical party, at sight of all this work of

The Patriots 169

spoliation, was goaded to madness, and rallied all
its forces for a last desperate struggle in which
they left no stone unturned to secure their end.
Their intrigues in Europe, chiming in with the
ambition of Napoleon III., and hidden behind a
scheme to enforce the payment of certain indebt-
edness on the part of Mexico, led to the French
Intervention, which soon took the form of a war
of conquest, and placed Maximilian on a Mexican
throne. The scheme was gigantic enough to have
come from the brain of the great Napoleon or of
Gregory VII.

Napoleon III. dreamed of an American empire
which would act as a check to the United States
and give France control of all Latin America.
The Pope was willing both to abet the French
emperor and to bless Maximilian, because he saw
a chance to restore to the Mexican clergy their
lost estates, increase his own temporal power in
Latin America, and counteract, if not destroy,
the Protestantism of the United States. But
Napoleon, weakened by his Mexican expendi-
tures, was unable to cope with the German
Emperor, in 1870, and the Pope lost his temporal
power in Italy. Thus was Mexico avenged.

Maximilian was not the man to lead such a
forlorn hope as that of the Mexican clergy. To
his honor be it said he was not enough like his
hero, the Duke of Alva. He was not drastic
enough. He shrank from the chaos and financial

170 Needs of Latin America

ruin which would have resulted had he returned
the confiscated property to the clergy ; he did not
intend to be dictated to by priestly advisers; but
he was anxious to win to his side the liberal ele-
ment; and honestly desired to unite all parties
about himself. He thus succeeded in pleasing
nobody. It was not a time for half measures.
Both sides wished all or nothing; and when, too
late for hope of success, instead of withdrawing
to Europe, as he started to do, Maximilian threw
himself unreservedly into the hands of the cleri-
cals.

The intervention of the United States, which
forced Napoleon to withdraw his army, made suc-
cess impossible for the bankrupt Mexican empire.
Even had the United States not intervened, Maxi-
milian could hardly have been maintained upon
his throne. He was besieged in Queretaro, cap-
tured, and in the face of many pleas on his be-
half, not omitting that of the United States, he
was shot, together with his two generals, Mira-
mon and Mejia, on the now historic hill of the
Campanas.

Some question the wisdom of this execution,
but none can doubt the courage of Juarez who
thus vindicated the majesty of his native land
which had been so ruthlessly invaded. Alive,
Maximilian would have been a constant menace,
a centre of disaffection ; so Juarez calmly replied :
" Allow him to go now, and there is no knowing
how the Pope or some European power might

The Patriots 171

construe our action in the future. No, the lesson
has been a dear one for us; and we must now
teach the corresponding one to Pius IX, Napoleon
and all the world." x

As already said, the downfall of the French
empire and of the temporal power of the Pope
are directly connected, as effect and cause, with
this last effort to stay up clerical absolutism in
Mexico, and to perpetuate, in the nineteenth cen-
tury, the religious system of the dark ages.
Better the spirit shown by Juarez who thus ex-
horted the grateful nation : " Let the Mexican
people fall on their knees before God who has
deigned to crown our arms with victory. He
hath smitten the foreigner who oppressed us
sorely. He hath established this his people in
their rightful place. For he who hath his habita-
tion in the heavens is the visitor and protector of
our country, who strikes down those who come
with intent to do us ill. The excellent, the only
just, almighty and eternal One is he who hath
dispersed the nations who, like vultures, had
fallen on Mexico." 2

Thus was the victory won for religious liberty
and the door thrown wide open for the entrance
of the Protestant worker. Juarez is said to have
remarked to an intimate friend just before his
death : " Upon the development of Protestantism

1 Mex. in Tran., p. 252.
' Idem.

172 Needs of Latin America

largely depends the future happiness of our
country." 1

That all Latin America was interested in the
Mexican struggle, and understood how much
was involved in its successful issue, is shown by
the utterances of the different countries, intended
to encourage Mexico. It was freedom's battle in
a religious as well as a political sense.

In 1852 the Pope had written denouncing a
similar movement toward religious liberty in New
Granada (Colombia), by which the expulsion of
the Jesuits was decreed; the monastic orders de-
nounced; the revenues of the church curtailed;
free education, freedom of the press and liberty
of public and private worship decreed. The Pope
condemned these " nefarious decrees " ; declared
them null and void; and threatened the actors
with the usual ecclesiastical penalties. The tirade
was treated with dignified silence; but when the
same tactics were tried in Honduras, the presi-
dent, Barrundia, had the papal bull read in public
to the assembled people and officers of state, then
he rammed it home into a cannon and fired it
back toward Rome. Though Roman Catholics,
they desired a larger religious liberty.

This battle is still being waged to-day in all
Latin America. In Guatemala Barrios won a
splendid victory. In Venezuela, Guzman Blanco
did a similar work. Colombia, however, lost what

1 Mexico in Tran., p. 253.

The Patriots 173

the liberals had won after thirty years of struggle,
and the battle has now to be fought once again.
Brazil, Chile and Argentina grant free entrance to
Protestant workers. Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador 1
have begun to move in the same direction, yet
much remains to be done before religious liberty
is secured. Their backwardness forms a strong
evidence of the blighting influence of papal con-
trol; while free Mexico has advanced rapidly
under the long liberal administration of Gen.
Diaz, who is everywhere hailed as the Hero of
Peace. But there are still two parties, even in
Mexico; and while the history of the past con-
tains much to encourage the lovers of liberty, it
shows also the need for constant, persevering
effort until a stable victory is won.

It is at this point that Protestant missionary
effort begins ; and, if successful, it will make per-
manent the victory achieved with such profuse
outpouring of hero blood. Thank God that the
wall of Romish exclusivism, higher than the
Chinese wall, has been broken down, and that all

1 " The constitution and laws have put more restric-
tions on religious liberty in those countries than any-
where else in all America. The Inquisition was not
abolished till 1821. As late as 1836, the penalty was
death for holding any worship other than the Roman
Catholic in Bolivia and Peru. As late as 1896, the con-
stitution of Ecuador excluded all other worship. To
this day in the three republics, Protestants are subject to
exceptional legal privations." Protestant Missions in
South America, p. 148.

174 Needs of Latin America

America is now open to the ingress of new and
holier influences. The words of Juarez deserve
to be repeated frequently to the men of Latin
America who still carry on the struggle in this
"strife of truth with falsehood : "— " We have
generous colaborers within and without the re-
public; who with their pens, their influence and
their money, are aiding us, and they offer up
earnest prayers for the salvation of our country.
Redouble then your efforts."

Lecture IV.— The Protestants

A mighty fortress is our God,

A bulwark never failing;

Our Helper he amid the flood

Of mortal ills prevailing.

For still our ancient foe

Doth seek to work us woe;

His craft and power are great,

And armed with equal hate,

On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide

Our striving would be losing

Were not the right man on our side,

The man of God's own choosing.

Did ask who that may be?

Christ Jesus it is he,

Lord Sabaoth is his name,

From age to age the same,

And he must win the battle.

Luther.

175

Synopsis of Lecture IV

INTRODUCTORY. — Failure of paganism and the papacy.-—
Patriots open the door. — Protestant missionaries enter.

1. EARLY EFFORTS AND EXPLORATION OF THE FIELD. —
Huguenots in Brazil. — Colony destroyed. — The Dutch oc-
cupation.— Expulsion. — Henry Martyn in Bahia.

Moravians in Dutch Guiana. — Restrictions on work for
Indians. — Individuals saved. — Not affect Latin America.

England and the United States. — J. S. Green from
Sandwich Islands to California. — Transformation to-day. —
J. C. Brigham and T. Parvin in Buenos Ayres. — Schools
and New Testament. — Brigham visits Chile, Peru, Mexico.
—Adverse report. — J. Thomson, B. F. B. S., and B. F.
Sch. S., 1820-1825. — Sale of New Testament. — Favorable
attitude of clergy. — Bible Society in Bogota. — Liberators
favor Lancasterian schools. — Great ignorance. — General
desire for education.

II. THE BIBLE AND PROTESTANT LITERATURE. — i. The
Bible.— Work of B. F. B. S.— A. B. S., follows in all Latin
America. — In Mexico. — Many colporteurs. — In Central
America. — Three agencies in South America. — Statistics. —
Various reports. — Valparaiso B. S. — Bible opens way for
evangelist. — Persecution.— Bibles burnt. — Bravery and con-
stancy of colporteurs. — Difficulties overcome.

2. The Press and Protestant literature. — American
Tract Society. — Church Boards of publication in United
States.— London Tract Society.— Presses on the field.—
Annual output. — Roman Catholic use of press. — Value of
evangelical literature. — Books issued. — Their circulation. —
Prepare the way.

III. EDUCATIONAL WORK AND MODERN EVANGELIZATION.—
General statistics. — Societies working in Mexico. — In Cen-
tral America. — In South America.

i. Educational work. — New Testament used in the
Lancasterian schools. — Universal desire for education. — •
Two extreme tendencies. — French infidelity. — Roman
Catholic schools. — Need for Protestant schools. — Day
schools. — Girls normal and boarding schools. — Colleges
and theological seminaries. — Mackenzie college. — Coyoacan,
Mexico. — Some graduates and their work. — Influence on
liberal elements. — Need for endowed institutions.

2. Modern evangelization work. — In Brazil. — How be-
gun.—Work in Mexico. — Melinda Rankin. — G. M. Prevost.
— Attitude of Juarez. — Independent workers. — Rev. Arcadio
Morales. — Missions organized. — Native pastors and teach-
ers.— Large cities as centres. — Spread into rural districts.
— Self-support, next lecture. — use instrumentalities em-
ployed in United States.

CONCLUSION. — Birdseye view of field. — Vast extent. —
Difficulties. — Degree of success warrants continuance of
the work and redoubled efforts.

176

LECTURE IV
The Protestants

Crosses there are in abundance; but when shall the
doctrines of the Cross be held up? Henry Martyn.

We come now to the fourth act in the drama
of Latin America's religious development. Pa-
ganism and the papacy had failed to satisfy the
religious need of the people. The patriots threw
open the door of religious liberty and some even
invited the Protestants to enter. Missionaries
from the United States and England have now
been at work for many years ; and the Protestant
movement is growing steadily in force and
volume.

The earliest attempt at Protestant evangeliza-
tion was made by the Huguenots of France as
far back as 1555. Only one generation after the
Portuguese had begun the settlement of Brazil,
three hundred French colonists under Admiral
Villegagnon settled on an island in the bay of
Rio de Janeiro. Admiral Coligny, the great
Protestant leader, directed the enterprise, hoping
to find a refuge for persecuted Huguenots; con-
vert the Indians; and found a French common-
wealth in the New World.

Some seventy years before the Puritans reached
177

178 Needs of Latin America

New England, and " more than half a century
before the Book of Common Prayer was borne to
the banks of the James river," Calvin and Beza,
in response to the appeal for missionaries, sent
out from Geneva to the new colony, fourteen
students and two ordained ministers.

Unfortunately, for the success of the move-
ment, Admiral Villegagnon soon avowed himself
a Roman Catholic and shamefully maltreated his
Protestant subjects. Some returned to France
in unseaworthy vessels, and suffered great hard-
ships by the way, nearly dying of starvation.
Others fled to the wilderness. Among the latter
were Jean de Boileau (John Boles) and two com-
panions, who began successful work among the
Indians, and soon attracted the attention of the
Portuguese colonists of San Vincente, three hun-
dred miles to the southward, whither they had
wandered.

Boileau was a man of education and ability.
The Jesuits, fearing his influence, had him im-
prisoned and sent to Bahia, where he languished
during eight long years of confinement, until,
after the expulsion of the French and the destruc-
tion of their colony, he was brought back to Rio
de Janeiro for execution. Brazil's great apostle,
the Jesuit Anchieta, for fear the heretic, whom
he claimed to have converted, might repent at the
eleventh hour, tied the knot about his neck, thus
showing the executioner how " to dispatch a
heretic as quickly as possible,"

The Protestants 179

The dream of a Huguenot commonwealth,
which might have done for South America what
the United States has done for the northern half
of our continent, was not to be realized. Bu^
who dare say that the martyr blood of Jean de
Boileau and his brave companions was shed in
vain? No such heroic effort ever is in vain. No
Protestant worker of to-day reads the story with-
out a renewed vow to labor on until all that fair
region is won to gospel Christianity.

The next attempt to introduce Protestantism,
which if it had proved successful, would also have
given us a strong Protestant state in South Amer-
ica, was made by the Dutch, 1624-54, during the
thirty years in which they held, for varying
periods, Bahia, Pernambuco and other ports on
the coast of Brazil. Maurice of Nassau was re-
called by the West India company, who failed to
appreciate the magnitude of his plans, before he
could consolidate his work. During the brief
period of occupancy the Dutch missionaries could
do little beyond the publication of a few religious
books in Portuguese and of a catechism in the
Indian language. " In those days Portugal was
wont to make thorough work with heresy and
heretics, and no vestige of these thirty years of
missionary work remains." 1

A third incident, of a still more transitory
character, but one that appeals to us with special

1 Braz. Bulletin, No. i, p. 37.

i8o Needs of Latin America

spiritual force, was the brief stay of Henry Mar-
tyn in Bahia, on his way to the Orient. He is
said to have cried out, at sight of the contrast be-
tween the beautiful natural scenery and the moral
corruption of the people :

" O'er the gloomy hills of darkness
Look, my soul, be still and gaze."

And to have sadly remarked : " Crosses there are
in abundance; but when shall the DOCTRINES of
the cross be held up ? " He did what he could,
Vulgate in hand, to teach " the faith once de-
livered to the saints," to the curious and benighted
friars who gathered about him. " Have Henry
Martyn's prayers been forgotten before the Lord
bf Hosts ? We love to regard the petitions of the
early Huguenots at Rio de Janeiro, those of the
faithful missionaries of the Reformed Church of
Holland at Pernambuco, and the prayers of Henry
Martyn at Bahia, as not lost, but as having al-
ready descended and as still to descend in rich
blessings upon Brazil." *

The work of the Moravians begun in Dutch
Guiana, in 1738, offers many instances of heroic
devotion, but we shall not give details, since their
labors were mainly among the Dutch settlers and
their negro slaves, and reached the Indians in
only a small degree. In fact, the Moravian mis-

1 Braz. and Braz., Fletcher, pp. 486-7.

The Protestants 181

sionaries were forbidden to allow the Indians to
congregate about their settlements. If any In-
dians were converted and abandoned their wan-
dering, forest life, it meant additional expense for
the missionaries who were commanded to clothe
them and pay their personal tax, while the poor
convert was frightened by the threat that he was
now liable for service in the army.

In 1757 Z. C. Daehne, a man worthy to be com-
pared with John Paton, the hero of the New
Hebrides, had the Indians build him a hut in the
primeval forest where he was left alone in "a
dreary wilderness, the haunt of tigers, serpents
and venomous reptiles."

On one occasion he had a lively tussle with an
anaconda, which nearly squeezed the life out of
him. While in the toils of the monster, with
wonderful love and presence of mind, he wrote
on his table with a piece of chalk, " a serpent
killed me," for fear the Indians would be sus-
pected of the crime and punished accordingly.
He, however, escaped, and then shows the sim-
plicity and strength of his faith by lying down,
as he expressed it, " to rest in the peace of God."

In 1750 Indians from the Orinoco visited the
Moravian settlements, but the opposition of the
colonial authorities, together with the nomadic
habits of the Indians, made all such visits of little
value for permanent work. Many individuals
were saved, but Spanish America was touched
only incidentally and in but one small district.

1 8 1 Needs of Latin America

Evangelization was to come in another way and
from another quarter. The two races, the Anglo-
Saxon and the Iberian, which had struggled so
long for political supremacy in the New World,
were, in the providence of God, to meet also in
religious rivalry; and Protestantism was to con-
tend with Romanism for spiritual control.

I shall not refer to all the early efforts at mis-
sion work, nor try to tell the story of all the
different missions; as this is not an exhaustive
history, but only a sketch of work in which special
attention is called, as in the case of Roman Catho-
lic missions, to the method and agencies employed.

In the light of recent events, however, and
especially in the annexation of the Hawaiian
Islands, new significance attaches to the fact that,
in 1829, " Rev. Jonathan S. Green, of the Sand-
wich Island Mission, embarked at Honolulu for
the northwest coast" of America. He visited
what was then a part of Spanish America, the
present state of California. He says that he found
the Indians of that region very much " under the
influence of the Romish priests. No religion but
the Romish is tolerated." Who then foresaw the
transformation to be wrought long before the close
of the century! California does not now depend
for its evangelization upon the chance visits of
missionaries from the Sandwich Islands. To-day
these islands and California are Protestant com-
munities, parts of our own great commonwealth,
and closely united to one another by steamship

MEMBERS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MERIDA, YUCATAN

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, SAN Luis POTOSI

The Protestants 183

lines. Well, may we exclaim, what hath God
wrought ! and hope for a similar, spiritual change,
under the new conditions that are rapidly de-
veloping, in all the remainder of Latin America.
The transformation has already begun, and many
now living may be permitted to see its completion.
Latin America is awakening from the sleep of
centuries, and passing, with rapid strides, from
medieval to modern life.

Among the missionaries sent to spy out the
land and see if it could be taken for Christ, were
Rev. Messrs. John C. Brigham and Theophilus
Parvin, who, on July 25, 1823, sailed on a tedious
three months' voyage to Buenos Ayres, where
they immediately found a wide field of usefulness
open before them." Mr. Parvin, in response to
the universal desire for education, opened a school
and soon had all the pupils he could handle. The
English New Testament was one of his text-
books. Bibles were circulated. A Sunday school
and preaching services were started. After a
year thus spent in Argentina, Mr. Brigham con-
tinued his journey into other parts of South
America. As there were no railroads in those
days, it took him two weeks to reach Mendoza at
the foot of the Andes.

When Mr. Brigham started to cross the dan-
gerous mountain pass alone, the canonigo of the
party, forgetful of the daring feats of early Span-
ish missionaries and conquistador 'es, paid this
tribute to our countryman's grit which I hope we

184 Needs of Latin America

shall always deserve : " These norte-americanos
are made of very different stuff from what we
are; they can do anything."

Mr. Brigham visited the principal cities of
Chile, Peru, and Ecuador, and then entered
Mexico by Acapulco. After two months in the
Mexican capital he returned to New York. In
his report of the two years' trip, while comment-
ing on the need for gospel work, he states that the
beneficent results of liberation from Spain were
most noticeable in Buenos Ayres, which had been
practically free for fifteen years or more. Chile
had not advanced so far, and Peru very little.
While many priests favored independence, the
higher clergy were attached to Spain. The work
of emancipation from Romish exactions had be-
gun. Even in Peru, much of the money formerly
lavished on the church was used to support hos-
pitals, and schools. One of the latter was opened
in the old Inquisition building.

In Mexico our traveller noticed the " imposing
worship, corrupt priesthood and superstitious
people." Mr. Brigham finally decided that,
" although there are many individuals in South
America who have noble and expanded views on
all subjects, men who are up with the spirit of
the age, still there is in that field a putrid mass
of superstition, on which the sun of liberty must
shine still longer before we can safely enter in
and labor. We must wait patiently a little longer
till the Ruler of nations, who has wrought such

The Protestants 185

wonders in these countries during the last ten
years (1825) shall open still wider the way and
bid us go forward." Mr. Parvin, who had secured
a printing press, was soon obliged to give up
his work begun under such favorable auspices.

The third witness to the character and method
of the work of that early day, whose testimony
I shall cite, is an Englishman, Mr. James Thom-
son. He was an agent both of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, and of a British and
Foreign School Society. As the agent of the
Lancasterian schools he met with a favorable re-
ception from the civil authorities, and thus saw
the prospect in a somewhat brighter light.

His letters, afterwards published, were written
from South America in the years 1820 to 1825.
In his efforts to establish schools, Mr. Thomson
secured the cooperation of many prelates of the
Roman Catholic Church. Some of these went so
far as to speak favorably of his circulation of the
Bible in Spanish and its translation into Indian
languages. A general desire to educate the
masses, and thus secure the fruits of liberty is
often referred to in these letters. *

In 1820 Mr. Thomson gathered 100 boys in a
Lancasterian school in Buenos Ayres, and taught

" Letters on the Moral and Religious State of South
America, written during a residence of nearly seven
years in Buenos Ayres, Chile, Peru and Colombia."—
Ecuador is included as part of Colombia.

1 86 Needs of Latin America

them to read, using Scripture passages as the text.
Several hundred copies of the New Testament
were also circulated. One was obtained by a
Patagonian chief who said he would explain it
to his tribe. Schools were also established in
Chile, with this endorsement from the Dictator
O'Higgins : " The object of this institution is to
extend in every direction throughout Chile the
benefits of education; to promote the instruction
of all classes, but especially of the poor." The
few newspapers in circulation favored the enter-
prise. In Lima a convent was turned over to
be used as a school. " The order for the friars
to vacate was given on Saturday; on Monday
they began to remove, and on Tuesday the keys
were delivered up." The Bible also was publicly
sold at " a short distance from the place where
used to sit the dreadful Inquisition." Some
wondered " in view of this zeal for the Bible how
they had been taught that the English were not
Christians." Many, Mr. Thomson noticed,
" espoused deistical principles " when freed from
" the trammels of popery."

Not only in Lima did parents ask for copies of
the Word, and priests encourage its study. From
Ecuador, a friend, engaged in the work of dis-
tribution, wrote to Mr. Thomson : " With pleas-
ure have I seen in passing through the streets of
Guayaquil, not once or twice, but mostly every
day, the shop-keepers and the poor people, who
have stalls, read in the blessed gospel of our

The Protestants 187

Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. If I had had
ten times as many [New Testaments] I am per-
suaded I could have sold them all.'*

At one time Mr. Thomson sold New Testa-
ments to five friars in Guayaquil, and one took
thirteen copies. The governor of Guaranda
bought a copy and told his friends to do the
same. With the permission of its prior, 104
copies were sold from a stall in the convent of
Latanga. In Quito, the Marquis of San Jose,
although a Catholic, allowed the sale of Testa-
ments in his own house. The bishop of Popayan
was the only one who opposed the movement.
Indeed, in Bogota, the capital of Colombia, a
Bible Society was organized. The Secretary of
State was its president; the vice-president was
the Minister of Finance; the treasurer was a
senator; while the second and third vice-presi-
dents were ecclesiastical dignitaries, and one of
the secretaries was a priest. " The Constitu-
tional," a leading journal, wrote : " This Bible
Society has been established with the consent and
approval of the most distinguished persons
actually intrusted with the executive Govern-
ment of the Republic and the ecclesiastical gov-
ernment of the Archbishopric to whom it belongs
exclusively and without dispute to watch over the
spiritual and temporal happiness of the people,
and whose fidelity none, without injustice, can call
in question."

Agencies of the Bible Society were also started

1 88 Needs of Latin America

in Buenos Ayres, Santiago, Valparaiso, Lima,
Guayaquil and Quito; not to mention points of
less importance. Thousands of copies of the
New Testament were sold in Spanish, often
with the help of Roman Catholic ecclesiastics, and
a translation of the New Testament was made
into Quichua, a native language spoken by more
than a million Indians. No wonder the enthusi-
astic Bible Agent felt that " great and happy
changes " were being effected of a kind impossible
under Spanish rule, and that, " what is going
forward in these countries is truly a revolution
in every sense of the word."

The establishment of Lancasterian schools in
which Scripture selections were used as reading
lessons, progressed finely. In Buenos Ayres
there were soon one hundred schools with 5,000
pupils. In Montevideo a liberal minded Catholic
clergyman headed the movement. O'Higgins
favored it in Chile. San Martin helped it for-
ward in Peru. Bolivar changed the Ocopa college
of Spanish friars into a school, and ordered the
establishment of these schools in every provincial
capital to supply trained teachers for the towns
and hamlets. In 1826 two young Colombians
were to be found in London studying the system.

Mr. Lancaster directed the movement in Cara-
cas, Venezuela, and gave $20,000 to insure its
success. The movement spread in Guatemala
and Mexico. In Mexico City a school of 300
children was opened in the halls of the Inquisition

The Protestants 189

once so inimical to general enlightenment. The
pupils were said to be " acquiring a taste for the
perusal of the Scriptures," and learning " to be
virtuous, charitable, tolerant and free," and Roca-
fuerte, a prominent patriot of that period, adds:
" This moral education will promote the cause of
religious toleration and will effect the regenera-
tion which our new political system requires."
Mr. Thomson's own comment is that " the public
voice is decidedly in favor of UNIVERSAL EDUCA-
TION. . . . this feeling prevails among the clergy
and the laity, the governors and the governed."

These letters, and similar statements made by
other writers of that early day, make prominent
two facts:

First, that the general eagerness to secure
copies of the Scriptures showed plainly that, as a
class, the clergy, as well as the laity, were unac-
quainted with the Bible, although they probably
had some knowledge of isolated passages, for
example, of the parables and historical narra-
tives, and of selections, given in books of devo-
tion, or in occasional religious discourses. What
a comment on Romish instruction is the fact that
monks, priests and even bishops, purchased
Spanish Testaments, read them as a novelty, and
were often pathetically eager to secure the com-
plete Bible which they had never seen. Not
merely the masses, but the religious teachers also
were densely ignorant of God's Word. And the
same is true to-day in almost equal degree. The

190 Needs of Latin America

signs of a promised revival within the Roman
Catholic Church came to naught for some occult
reason, connected doubtlessly with the system of
which they were a part.

The second fact which causes surprise, in the
light of the modern attitude toward the Bible, is
the ready purchase of the Spanish New Testa-
ment by monks and priests, and the help in its
sale given by Roman Catholic laymen, the priors
of convents and even the bishops, as well as by
presidents, governors, and lesser political magis-
trates. Only one bishop is mentioned who saw
that a position had been taken, in the enthusiasm
of the moment, from which the papal authorities
at Rome would force them to withdraw.

We note the change, later on, when the col-
porteur is no longer lodged in a convent, but in
the jail; and when instead of organizing Bible
Societies the Romish authorities burn the Bible.
In Colombia, for example, Thomson had, in 1825,
a reception very different from that accorded
Norwood in 1898. As soon as it was fully ap-
preciated that study of the Bible weaned men
from the papacy, the circulation of the Bible was
forbidden, and efforts were made to suppress the
whole evangelical movement.

If we now turn again to Portuguese America,
we find this statement in the Brazilian Bulletin
for 1898 : " The first attempt made in modern
times to carry Protestant Christianity into Brazil
was by the Methodist Episcopal church of the

The Protestants 191

United States by sending the Rev. Mr. Spaulding
to Rio, in 1835, as a missionary of that church.
The Rev. D. P. Kidder was added to the mission
in 1838." * He returned to the States in 1840,
and in 1842 the mission was abandoned. Aside
from the circulation of the Bible, of which some
copies were sent into the interior, " there was
little to show for the five years of faithful work."

Dr. Kidder described his travels in a " sketch "
which was afterwards incorporated in " Brazil
and the Brazilians." He says that Portugal had
only authorized the publication of the Bible with
Roman Catholic notes, and never tried to circu-
late it. Indeed it was not on the list of books
which might be introduced into the colonies. Yet
Brazil has been tolerant and scenes similar to
those just described in Spanish America, were
to be witnessed.

" Many," we are told, " were prepared to hail
any movement which promised to give them what
had so long been systematically withheld — the
Scriptures of truth for their own perusal. Copies
exposed for sale, and advertised in the news-
papers, found many purchasers, not only from the
city but also from the distant provinces." At the
mission house there was even " a rush of appli-
cants for the sacred volume." Those who did not
care to come in person, sent notes asking for
copies. A minister of the Imperial government

'P. 78.

1 92 Needs of Latin America

asked for a supply for use in a school outside the
city. Among the applicants were some priests.
" One aged priest, who called in person, and re-
ceived, by special request, copies in Portuguese,
French and English, on retiring, said, ' The like
was never before done in this country/ " 1

There was, of course, some opposition, as for
example, in conservative newspapers. Dr. Kid-
der says that later on, while travelling in distant
provinces, he found that the Bibles he had dis-
tributed in Rio de Janeiro had gone before him,
and that " wherever they went an interest had
been awakened which led the people to seek for
more."

The Brazilian Bulletin 2 tells of a Bible, which
then found its way into the hands of a young
man who went sixty miles to compare it with an
"official" Bible. The priest said he thought
there was such a book somewhere in the house,
and he might find it, if he could. He found it,
made his comparisons and went on his way re-
joicing. When he and his friends desired to
organize a church, they took New Testament
statements on the subject as their guide. " Years
afterwards they were visited by an ordained mis-
sionary who found that this group of spontane-
ous Christians, who had never before heard an
ordained Protestant, had a genuine Christian

1 Braz. and Braz., p. 253.
1 Pp. 78, 79-

The Protestants 193

church. He was amazed at their purity of doc-
trine and life, their simplicity of faith, and the
aggressive character of their Christianity. . . .
The deacons attended to material affairs, and the
elders to the spiritual, taking turns in preaching,
expounding the scriptures, and carrying the gospel
to neighboring communities. This little church,"
the writer continues, "has already (1898) pro-
duced another and bids fair to become the mother
of churches." Then follows this pregnant sen-
tence, which has so many similar facts to sub-
stantiate it : " The undiluted Word of God is a
living thing, and, like germinal matter, possessing
the principle of life, is able to reproduce itself
infinitely, by a sort of segmentation."

There is not room for further reference to the
priests who favored the movement of Bible cir-
culation. The venerable statesmen, the Andradas,
expressed their appreciation of the work of the
Bible Societies, and the desire to see the Bible,
especially the New Testament read by everybody.
The President of the Assembly of Sao Paulo, and
several members, promised to introduce the New
Testament into the public schools of that State;
but here again, Dr. Kidder was doomed to dis-
appointment— for a cause similar to that which
blighted the hopes entertained by Thomson in
Spanish South America ; for the first enthusiasm
was followed by apathy or opposition.

Perhaps this connection is the best in which to

194 Needs of Latin America

treat of the first great agency employed in all
our mission work, that of Bible Distribution. It
is the most natural transition from the efforts of
early workers to the more systematic labors of
recent years. Our present Bible Agencies carry
on the work begun by such men as Thomson and
Kidder.

The British and Foreign Bible Society was
first in the field, but at the present time the
principal work is done by our American Society.
An agent of the American Bible Society accom-
panied the American army in its invasion of
Mexico in the war of 1847. Many Mexicans
were eager to see the book to which the success
of American arms was attributed. Many copies
then circulated were destroyed by the priests. In
1860 the Society opened an agency in Monterey,
and in 1879 in Mexico City, where the British
and Foreign Bible Society had labored from 1864
to 1878. The work is at present well organized
in Mexico, with colporteurs all over the Republic.

Mr. Hamilton's report, for 1898, is full of strik-
ing incidents and bits of history from the lives of
his colporteurs. During the twenty years of its
existence the work had grown from one colpor-
teur to fifty. In 1898 alone, nearly 5,000 Bibles
were put m circulation, or 27,872 copies, including
portions of Scripture. The total from 1879 to 1898
was 402,816. Prior to that date the British and
Foreign Bible Society circulated 157,554 copies,
of which record was kept. At least 40,000 more

The Protestants 195

were sent out from other sources, making a grand
total of 600,000. These books have been given
out one by one, most of them sold, and the supply
is practically inexhaustible to-day. Aside from
the central agency in Mexico City, there are sub-
depots for distribution in 25 of the 27 states of
the Union.

The work began about the same time in South
America, and is equally well organized. There
are four chief agencies, namely, those of Central
America, of Venezuela and Colombia, of Brazil,
and that of La Plata which has for its vast field
the rest of South America from Cape Horn to
Ecuador, including Patagonia, Argentina, Uru-
guay, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Bolivia. The
figures for 1898 of Bibles and portions circulated
are, for Central America, 3,787; Venezuela and
Colombia, 5,369 ; La Plata Agency, 29,925, repre-
senting the work of 33 men in a total of 2,629
days of actual work. These agents visited 350
towns and villages, and travelled 21,939 miles
over a region extending from Patagonia to Ecua-
dor. The figures for Brazil are 26,742 ; making a
grand total for one year's work in all Latin Amer-
ica of 93,695 copies of God's Word, in whole or
part, distributed, as leaves from the tree of life
for the healing of these nations.

Mr. Milne says in his report that 600,000
copies have been distributed since 1864. The 38th
Annual Report of the Valparaiso Bible Society
gives as their total 100,399. *n Brazil, the B. F.

196 Needs of Latin America

B. S. has circulated about 400,000 copies of the
Word; the A. B. S. 325,000; and other agencies
swell the total to 850,000 or 900,000.* We are
safe, therefore, in saying that over 2,000,000
copies of the Word have been placed in the hands
of the inhabitants of Spanish and Portuguese
America. Has it not been a wonderful seed
sowing ?

Part of the grain has already ripened and been
garnered, and the fields are whitening for fuller
and richer harvests in our day. Mr. Milne wrote :
" The experience of another year has revealed
fruits of work done in bygone years in many a
remote corner of the Argentine field." The work
does reach to widely separated corners. North
of the equator near our own land, we have Sonora,
out in Yucatan we have Merida amid the Mayas
with their old civilization and ruined cities, in
South America, Quito the capital of benighted
Ecuador, and Punta Arenas on the straits of
Magellan, in sight of the Fuegians. To all these
places the Bible has gone with rich blessings.

It is repeatedly the experience of the mission-
ary that Bible and tract have gone before and pre-
pared the way for him. When, as the first mis-
sionary to enter that district, I visited Guayameo
in the mountains of Michoacan with a Mexican
minister, I was warmly welcomed by a group of
Bible Christians. Mr. Campbell afterwards trav-

1 Protestant Missions in South America, pp. 83, 84.

The Protestants 197

elled extensively in that region and organized
many groups of believers to whom the entrance
of God's Word had given light.

A few instances, taken from the many, will
show the persecution by which it was sought to
stop this work. In 1874, Dr. Wm. Butler was
shown a cave near Mexico City where men met
secretly to read the Bible which it was unsafe to
read openly before the world. I have heard from
the lips of Mr. Juan Granados the story of his
persecution. He was the first colporteur em-
ployed by the Mexico City Agency. When he
began to circulate the Bible and expound it in
his mountain home in Guerrero, the priest de-
nounced him and his Bible, " and one midnight
thirty or forty men, armed with pistols and
machetes, surrounded the house, crying ' Death
to Protestants ! ' All escaped to the hills save
Juan's brother, Jose, who was cut to pieces by
the machetes." Juan has lived to continue un-
daunted in the good work until the present time.

In 1879 a colporteur named Gomez was set
upon by four men and killed. His brother Euse-
bio, who took his place, twice narrowly escaped
a similar fate. Mr. Penzotti, who suffered so
much in Peru, for the Word's sake, wrote from
Central America that after seven years he and
his helpers had risen superior to all opposition,
but, he adds, " it is well known that the Roman
Catholic Clergy persecute the Scriptures more
than Saul persecuted David, and they were able

198 Needs of Latin America

to destroy perhaps three quarters of the copies
we distributed in our earlier trips." It is not now
so easy for the priests to find the books for the
people hide them. " I have noticed," he adds,
" that while the priests burn the Bibles, the people
take their images of all sorts and sizes and put
them in the fire, at the same time abandoning their
sins." There you have it in a nutshell — the
priests burn the Bible; the Protestant convert
burns his papal idols!

In 1898 Mr. Norwood had an exciting battle
for the Bible in Colombia. The priests tried to
stop his sales and confiscate his stock, but he se-
cured a judicial decision in his favor. They used
the pulpit, confessional and Romish press in vain
to prevent the purchase of his books. At length
the bishop of Santander tried to have the Bible
classified as an immoral and obscene book and
thus bring it within the law ; but this also failed.
This battle against bigotry was fought, not a
generation or more ago, but in 1898; not against
pagan priests, but against a papal bishop; and
in the very country where seventy years before,
in the first flush of liberty, a Bible Society was
organized with Roman Catholic prelates as
officers.

I have dwelt thus at length on this work of the
Bible Societies because it is the foundation for
all other evangelical work, and because I know
of no stronger arguments than it affords in favor
of Protestant missions. It has brought to light

The Protestants 199

a well nigh universal ignorance of the Word of
God. Whatever the Roman Catholic church did
do, during the three long centuries of her undis-
puted sway, she did not give the people the Word
of God. To accomplish that result Protestants
had to undertake the work.

All honor to the brave men who have faced
and overcome physical obstacles and priestly op-
position! The natural difficulties have been very
great in regions where there are few or no rail-
roads, and where much of the transportation
must be done over mountain trails, or through
hot, unhealthy tropical forests, on pack animals,
in canoes, or on the man's own back. Yet all
these difficulties have been overcome, and the
Bible has been carried to the most out of the
way villages and farms; and most of the work
has been done within the last generation.

Most of the colporteurs are natives; many are
simple-hearted men with no education beyond
the ability to read and write. Their names are
known to but few, their only earthly enrollment
is in the records of the Society under whose wise
direction they labor. With relatively little ma-
chinery and small outlay this magnificent busi-
ness enterprise is carried on, and as fast as one
laborer drops from the ranks another takes his
place. On a trip through the mountain or river
valleys, along the tropical sea coast, or over the
high bleak tablelands, we missionaries meet these
men, with their packs, on horseback or afoot, al-

aoo Needs of Latin America

ways cheerful, taking what is offered in bed or
board, with Bibles or portions adapted to any
purse, and in type for eyes yet keen or eyes that
are failing. Thus they sow the seed, trusting
God to give the increase. This is pioneer work.
The native evangelists and teacher labor side by
side with the colporteur and gather in the har-
vest. Thank God for the Bible Societies !

Thank God also for our Tract Society and
our church Boards of Publication, and our Mis-
sion Presses on foreign soil. The Press and
Protestant Literature is a part of the propaganda
closely allied to the work of Bible distribution.
It, also, is seed sowing. The American Tract
Society of the United States, the Presbyterian
Board of Publication, that of the Methodists in
Nashville, and others, by their Spanish and Portu-
guese publications have helped in this work, but
the bulk of the printing, with the exception of
books, is done by the Mission Presses and Publi-
cation houses locate_d on the field.

The missionaries regard this as an essential
and very important branch of the propaganda.
The total number of presses reported by Dr.
Dennis, in his statistics published for the Ecu-
menical Conference in April, 1900, was 18 for all
Latin America. Forty-three different periodicals
are issued, with a total of twenty million pages
annually. These figures are not very large com-
pared with the work of the religious press in the

The Protestants 201

United States, but make a comparison of another
kind. What of the presses in Mexico before the
era of independence, operated to spread papal
ideas? Remember that prior to the nineteenth
century there was no press in Brazil, and only
one in Argentina, at Cordoba. Even to-day our
output does not suffer so grievously by com-
parison with the amount, to say nothing of the
quality, of the output of the religious press
operated by the Roman Catholic church in Latin
America. The best of their printing is done
abroad. We are not satisfied with what is being
done. It should be far more, but it is by no
means to be despised, and is a source of enlighten-
ment and instruction in things spiritual for many
thousands who have no other Christian literature.

The invention of moveable types antedated the
Reformation in Europe. The great reformers
printed their refutations of error and positive
statements of truth, and thus reached a larger
audience of thoughtful, studious minds. As a
contemporary product, adapted to the needs of
that age, their writings were a living literature,
and were read with avidity. The same is true of
the Christian literature of our day in our own
English tongue.

We need a similar literature in our Reforma-
tion struggles in Latin America. We need not
merely translations, good as these are, of books on
doctrine and ecclesiastical history, Bible exposi-
tion and devotional study, all taken from the

Needs of Latin America

English, but also books and tracts and periodi-
cal literature that shall express the thought and
need of our converts from their standpoint, face
to face with the problems of their own hearts
and their own environment.

Most of this work, especially when of a periodi-
cal character, can be printed only on presses,
operated on the field, to which immediate access
can be had. Our presses are trying to build up
a Christian literature in Latin America, and to
keep the people informed week by week on current
religious topics; and also to provide tracts for
free circulation among the unconverted. Every
mission of any size in Latin America has its
periodicals, its tracts and books for immediate
circulation, and for permanent use in its schools
and colleges.

In Mexico, for example, people still call for the
controversial works of Padre Aguas; and delight
in the rude yet telling blows at papal error dealt
by Santiago Pascoe in his Heraldo. His wall texts
are still to be seen in many homes, along with
our more modern texts and calendars. We were
recently asked to reprint from our Presbyterian
paper " EL FARO" (The Lighthouse) Don
Vicente Hurtado's keen, satirical arraignment of
the papacy. Similar examples could be cited by
every worker. In Mexico, our list of evangelical
papers is quite long. In addition to El Faro, we
have. the Abogado Cristiano of the Methodists
and the Evangelista published by their southern

The Protestants 203

brethren. The Baptists illumine our minds
with their Luz, the Congregationalists give faith-
ful witness in their Testigo, the Episcopalian
speaks ever of his good fight in La Buena Lid,
while the Friend, more peaceably inclined, holds
oat the Ramo de Olivo. Those who have sepa-
rated from the missions to lead an independent
Christian life now fly their own Bandera Cristi-
ana; while the Christian Endeavor Societies have
their own Esforzador Mexicano. This list might
be greatly lengthened, but we shall only add the
name of a little sheet of the Plymouth Brethren
of England which lodges much good seed in the
heart, the Sembrador.

Several of the Missions print Sunday School
Quarterlies and Lesson Helps, and many tracts
which circulate also among the Spanish speaking
Roman Catholics in the southwestern portions of
the United States, and in Central and South
America.

A similar list of publications might be given
for South America, which has its Heraldo in
Chile, its Estandarte Cristiano in Argentina and
the gospel of ' glad tiding in As Boas Noas of
Brazil, but we cannot mention all.

In nearly all our papers is a column devoted to
the Sunday School lesson, another to the C. E.
Society or some kindred organization, still an-
other to the prayer meeting or to missionary
news from other lands, just as in the home papers.
Our larger sheets are illustrated, and the Amer-

204 Needs of Latin America

lean Tract Society has given efficient help by
generous grants of engravings at the cost of re-
production. Our own Board of Foreign Missions
and that of Publication have also given similar
assistance. Now that Cuba, Puerto Rico and the
Philippines need a similar literature, our Boards
will probably do more in their Spanish depart-
ment than before; and, in time, they will find a
large field in which to sell this literature.

Already a beginning has been made in this
direction. The list of publications in Spanish
and Portuguese of the Tract Society is a large
one. A long list comes also from Spain. Some
books have been issued on the field, forming the
beginning of a library of Christian books of per-
manent value for study and reference. Of popu-
lar books for general reading, we have Titus
printed by El Heraldo of Chile, and the Wrestler
of Philippi, by El Faro. In history we have
Hurst's Outlines and Church History, Fisher's
History of the Reformation, and part of D'Au-
bigne's. Rand's Bible Dictionary, the Bible Man-
ual and the Spanish Cruden's Concordance, now
in press. In the preparation of this concordance
many Mexican pastors cooperated with Mr.
Sloan. We owe a big debt of gratitude to the
Tract Society for these and other books, not the
least of them our fine Spanish Hymnal with over
five hundred hymns and tunes.

Those who wish models of pulpit eloquence
can turn to translations of the sermons of Wes-

The Protestants 205

ley, Spurgeon, Moody, Purves and others. I
cannot begin to give a full list of this rapidly
growing literature, only pick and choose at ran-
dom. Yet I must be permitted to say something
of the work connected most intimately with
Princeton.

A. A. Hodge's Outlines of Theology has been
printed in Portuguese for use in Brazil; one of
my pupils translated the same into Spanish, but
it exists only in manuscript. Another pupil of
our Theological Seminary in Mexico, translated
Hodge's Commentary on the Confession of Faith,
with notable influence on his own style of preach-
ing; and this has been published. Still another
rendered into Spanish Dr. Wm. Henry Green's
Argument of the Book of Job ; while Dr. Green's
lectures on Old Testament Introduction were
translated and printed with scholarly annotations
by Dr. Henry C. Thomson, for twenty years a
missionary in Mexico. Charles Hodge's Way of
Life, and Dr. Francis L. Patton's Summary of
Doctrine and Inspiration, we owe to J. Milton
Greene, now in Puerto Rico. We have also a
modern version of the Bible in Spanish, the re-
sult of forty years of scholarly work on the part
of Dr. H. B. Pratt, who nearly threescore and
ten years of age, has begun to print in Spanish
a commentary on the whole Bible. May he live
to complete it !

The man who can estimate the power of the
press can tell us all about the secret, subtle,

206 Needs of Latin America

leaven-like influence of our Spanish and Portu-
guese Protestant literature. It is posted up on
bulletin boards in the cities, in front of our
churches, schools and presses, where the passerby
can stop and read and have his curiosity or in-
terest aroused. It lies upon the tables of public
libraries. It is read quietly in the home, and by
preachers and other speakers in preparation for
our devotional meetings. Our tracts and leaflets
are circulated annually by millions of pages. They
are read in the street cars, in railway trains, by
the lonely horseman or muleteer on steep moun-
tain trails, by the Indian in his canoe, by the sick
or imprisoned in hospitals and jails.

Like the Bible, this Protestant literature opens
the way for the evangelist. Its pages are also
like leaves from the tree of life wafted into many
homes. How different our use of this agency
from that made of it by the Roman Catholic
Church. Its tracts and devotional books are, far
too often, full of startling, lying miracles, or
queer tales of saints who wrought out their own
salvation by penance and self-torture. Ours tell
of Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God
and Man. They ignore the Bible ; we give it the
foremost place among the books we circulate.

We ask our people to study these books, and
above all to read and study the Holy Scriptures.
We have to teach them how to do this ; and this
brings us to the third great agency we employ,

A DAY SCHOOL IN BAHIA, BRAZIL

SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF CHRISTIAN WORKERS
MEXICO CITY

The Protestants 207

our schools; that is, our educational plant, with
its varied forms of work.

Reference has already been made to the Lan-
casterian schools opened in all parts of Latin
America during the first decades which followed
independence. By the use of Scripture passages
in the readers, and by other means of a similar
nature, it was the intention to make these schools
moral and Christian in their influence. All that
was hoped for then has not been realized, and
mainly because they were not connected with any
distinctly missionary organization. As govern-
ment schools they had to be at least neutral, and
were often under influences which would not es-
pecially favor the daily reading of the Scriptures.

Reference has also been made to the fact that
everywhere a desire for education was mani-
fested, and large hopes for the enlightenment of
the masses were indulged in by the new republics.
A work in Spanish called " Las Dos Americas,"
written years ago by an exiled Venezuelan
patriot, and printed in Mexico, has for its main
object to make known to his countrymen the
American school system of which he speaks with
unstinted praise, as the panacea for all the ills
from which Latin America is suffering. He, like
so many other of his compatriots, believed that
the secular training given by public schools, in
which there is no religious instruction, can do the
whole work of civilization and enlightenment.

We notice in the native schools two dangers of

208 Needs of Latin America

an opposite character. While the public schools
of Latin America are becoming more numerous,
and many are well equipped for their work of
instruction, they are, as a rule, under one of two
influences. Many of the teachers are rationalists
of one sort or another, and are either indifferent
to religion or seek, by covert or open attacks, to
undermine the faith of their pupils in Christian-
ity as a revealed religion. French text-books, in
the original or in Spanish translations, are also
very largely used in advanced work.

On the other hand there are zealous Roman
Catholic instructors who use their position in the
public schools to propagate their beliefs, or who
teach them in their own church schools ; for, how-
ever much the Roman Catholic church may
neglect the education of the masses, it does not
fail to look after the intellectual training of those
whose social position calls for superior knowl-
edge. Roman Catholic schools are numerous in
some localities, especially in the large cities, and
in them the Romish catechisms are efficiently
taught.

In view, then, of this double danger, while we
desire to see the public school system perfected
in Brazil and the Spanish republics, our native
workers and the missionaries believe in the need
for our own mission schools, especially those for
the higher education and training of our Chris-
tian workers; — teachers and preachers. A mis-
sionary writes from Colombia that " in all Roman

The Protestants 209

Catholic countries, the school work is the real
secret of success." *

There are also neglected places with no schools
of any kind, and where our day schools, afford-
ing as they do the only means of instruction, win
the sympathy and support of the whole com-
munity. The need for such schools, in many
parts of papal America is as great as in heathen
lands. It is a long, slow, laborious process, this
attempt to lift the child out of its environment of
superstition and error, and train it into a man
or woman who will see all questions not from the
papal, but from the true Christian standpoint,
and to train native pastors and preachers, im-
bued with evangelical ideas, who shall prove equal
to the task of building up an independent native
church.

There are, in Latin America, according to Dr.
Dennis's statistics, seven institutions classed as
theological seminaries or colleges, with about
1,000 students; and forty-six boarding and high
schools, with nearly 5,000 pupils. To these must
be added several hundred day schools, with
scholars, mainly from the homes of Roman
Catholics, in the poorer wards of the cities, and
in the rural districts. These figures are surely
very small, when taken in the light of the area
to be covered, and the millions to be educated in
saving truth, through their instrumentality; but

1 Historical Sketch Pres. Mis., p. 36.

!2io Needs of Latin America

every great work has its beginning, its day of
small things.

First a word as to our day schools. As already
hinted, these gain us an entrance on the best of
terms, into many Roman Catholic homes; and
win for our work the confidence, good will and
respect of the community. The results are tangi-
ble. A poor child learns to read and write, to
repeat precious passages of Scripture, to recite
the questions and answers of the catechism which
tell of Jesus Christ and his work of redemption,
to sing our gospel hymns, the very same you
sing at home. It is worth something to violate the
technical laws of Spanish or Portuguese poetry,
if you can get these nations to sing with the heart
and understanding, not merely one, but many of
our gospel hymns, which speak of Jesus the sin-
ner's only Saviour; not of Mary or any other
human intercessor.

I can still see before me the sweet upturned
face of the little girl, the child of Roman Catholic
parents, taught in one of our mission schools in
the slums of Mexico City, as she sang from mem-
ory one after another of our beautiful hymns,
and I was told that she sang the same in her
home to the delight of parents and friends, and
surely to their spiritual profit as well. I can still
see the barefoot, poorly-clad children, perched on
rude benches in one of our many ranch schools,
down in the hotlands, or up in the mountains.
The parents had given of their pennies to help

The Protestants 211

pay the teacher, often only a pittance, twelve,
ten, or only eight dollars a month in Mexican
silver. It is examination day, and the children's
faces shine after the good rubbing at the wash-
basin, and the clothes of many are neat and
clean. Round about sit the fathers and mothers,
some squatting on the dirt floor, as proud of the
rude hieroglyphics or figures of their offspring,
or of the ready reading and writing of the more
advanced, as any parent here at home. Then,
too, the children are examined in the Sunday-
school lessons for the quarter, and in the cate-
chism; and from such schools come some of the
best of our teachers and preachers. All the mis-
sions have day schools and believe in them most
thoroughly.

For the training of teachers we have a number
of normal schools. Not all the pupils in these
schools become teachers, but many do, and some
have declined offers of higher salary in govern-
ment schools, and remained with the mission from
love of more distinctly gospel work.

From Brazil comes an account of a school in
Rio Qaro, designed for the education of needy
and orphaned children, of which it is said:
" During the ten years' existence of this school,
with an average attendance of about thirty, not
only was a good primary education given to many
children of native Christians who would not
otherwise have received it, but a considerable
number of those who afterwards became useful as

212 Needs of Latin America

teachers and preachers, laid there the foundation
of their education."

Of another of our institutions in that country,
the Girls' Boarding school (Eschola Americana)
at Curityba, it is said that " it stands next in im-
portance to the Sao Paulo Protestant College. It
is the outgrowth of a small school established by
Mr. Landes, under the care of Rev. M. Carval-
hosa, assisted by his daughters. In 1892, Misses
M. P. Dascomb and Ella Kuhl, after years of
successful work in the Sao Paulo school, assumed
charge. They opened a boarding department
which now [1897] has twenty-two pupils. The
whole number of pupils exceeds two hundred,
representing nine different nationalities. The
girls are carefully trained in the Scriptures, and
the whole atmosphere of the school is that of a
Christian home." 1

The Institute International in Santiago, Chile,
was begun in 1876, and now " has a preparatory
department and a regular college course up to the
fourth year, with moral and religious instruction.
A commodious new building was erected in 1894.
Many of the students come from unbelieving fam-
ilies, and receive their only religious impressions
in the school. A theological class was begun in
1884. . . . Several of its students are now in
the active ministry in Chile or in other countries.2

1 His. Sk. P. Mis., pp. 315. 3*9-
* Idem, p. 328.

The Protestants 213

Our mission has two Normal and Boarding
Schools in Mexico; one in Saltillo, the out-
growth of Miss Rankin's initiative in Monterey,
at present under the able management of Misses
Wheeler and Johnson ; the other, in Mexico City,
also located in a building owned by the Board, is
under the efficient direction of Misses Browning
and McDermid. Both schools have done a grand
work, and many of their graduates have taken
charge of mission schools, others teach in public
schools and still others exercise an influence on
their respective communities, helping their hus-
bands in pastoral work. The schools of other
missions, notably the Methodist Episcopal, which
are doing equally good work, might be mentioned,
but space forbids.

We have as yet few schools, if any, to be
ranked as colleges or universities, in the fullest
sense of the term, with the possible exception of
the Institute in Santiago, already mentioned, and
Mackenzie College, in Brazil. This latter school
is located in Sao Paulo, the educational centre of
our work in that country. The school was started
by Dr. Blackford, and efficiently carried on by Dr.
Chamberlain, who also donated land for the
buildings, raised funds for the institution, and in
every way showed his appreciation of the need
for a college and did all in his power to secure
one.

Dr. Horace M. Lane was sent out in 1886 to
thoroughly organize and unify the course of in-

214 Needs of Latin America

struction. His labors have met with phenomenal
success. There are now several departments,
namely, a kindergarten school ; primary, interme-
diate, grammar and high school courses; a nor-
mal class; the college proper; manual training
shops, and the Theological Seminary. This last
is at present under the control of the Synod of
Brazil.

Mackenzie College was incorporated under the
laws of the State of New York, in 1890, with the
avowed purpose to "extend and perpetuate the
type of Christian education commenced by the
Presbyterian mission in 1870; form an institution
of learning of higher grade which should repre-
sent the American type of higher education, and
the American theory that the ideal school is the
ideal community; and thus give to Brazil a com-
plete system of American schools on a Christian
foundation." *

By the gifts of Dr. and Mrs. Chamberlain,
Col. J. J. McCook and others, the land donated
reached a little more than eight and a half acres,
which, we are told, is now worth two hundred
times its original cost. Would that more such
paying investments had been made years ago,
or were being made to-day, where land can
be secured at a reasonable figure. It is a paying
business investment, aside from its help to mis-
sionary enterprise.

Braz. Bulletin, p. 41.

STUDENTS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
MEXICO

The Protestants 1115

In 1891, John T. Mackenzie, whose father had
affectionately called him, when a boy, " Johnnie,
the little missionary," offered $50,000 for the con-
struction of a college building. Of this sum $42,-
ooo had been paid over before he died. The cen-
tral edifice is a three-story building fitted up with
lecture and recitation rooms, a laboratory and dor-
mitories. Other buildings have since been added.
Dr. Lane's plan of a graded course of fourteen
years' duration was adopted, extending to the end
of a regular college course. There are now be-
tween five and six hundred students; and more
apply for admission than can be accommodated.

These are beginnings which, we hope, in the
providence of God, will develop into similar in-
stitutions in Buenos Ayres, in Santiago, Chile,
and in Mexico; at Puebla, Guadalajara and in
Coyoacan. The school at Coyoacan is the Theo-
logical Seminary of the Presbyterian Church in
Mexico. Land has been donated by Mr. W. B.
Jacobs, of Chicago ; and other friends have made
contributions of money toward the erection of the
buildings needed.

As I have been connected with this school
for sixteen years, I hope I shall be pardoned if I
describe it a little more in detail.

Shortly after the Presbyterian Mission was
opened, in 1872, Mr. Hutchinson gathered to-
gether a class of young men, who were placed for
a time under the direct supervision of Rev. P. C.
Diaz, a Mexican preacher. Rev. A. P. Kiel and

216 Needs of Latin America

Dr. J. M. Greene organized the work more
thoroughly. All the missionaries located in
Mexico City have been connected with this school
to some extent. Rev. Henry C. Thomson had
begun a similar work in Northern Mexico. The
two schools were united in 1885, and the new
institution was located, first in San Luis Potosi;
then in Tlalpam in a building once a Dominican
convent ; and to-day, under the direction of Rev.
C. C. Millar, in Coyoacan, in sight of the historic
residence of Hernan Cortes, who made provision
in his will for a legacy " to establish and endow
perpetually a college in Coyoacan for the educa-
tion of those missionaries dedicated to preach the
gospel to the Indians." Needless to say the
Cortes college never was built, but the institution
is as much needed to-day as in 1547, and, we are
glad to say that it has started on its career under
evangelical direction.

Our course of study, as at present outlined,
covers five years, with a large part of each year
given to theological and Bible study. In time
we hope to have a college not altogether unworthy
to rank with those of which our Church is so
justly proud in the United States. Princeton with
its University and Theological Seminary is our
high ideal.

Of our graduates some have gone into business,
others have taught mission schools, and many
have entered the ministry; and it is to their co-
operation that the success of our mission work is

The Protestants 217

so largely due. One graduate, successful in busi-
ness, is helping to build a chapel; another used
his skill as a carpenter in constructing a neat
house of worship ; a third, by his indefatigable ef-
forts, raised the money to put up a church edifice
in Merida, the wealthy capital of Yucatan. The
present business manager of our Mission press
is another graduate. Other graduates have done
good work as translators and as regular contribu-
tors to our mission paper. There is no more use-
ful branch of our work.

This brief outline of our educational work,
which has only touched upon it here and there, is
perhaps, enough to show the importance we at-
tach to our day schools, normal schools, colleges,
and Theological seminaries. The link in this
chain which needs to be made larger and stronger
is the college. When we missionaries come home
on a furlough, and attend commencement at our
Alma Mater; or visit other colleges, of which
there are so many in our broad land, attended by
thousands of our brightest and best young men,
we thank God for the splendid work that is done
at home, and then our eyes turn lovingly back to
the mission field. As I think, to-day, of Latin
America, a vast region, with millions of young
men, men to be educated, men who are to deter-
mine the social, political and religious future of
their countries, I deeply regret that we have no
colleges, or at best only two or three small institu-
tions, to which to invite them. They are being

li 8 Needs of Latin America

educated under papal or infidel influences; and
this ought not so to be. Suitably equipped colleges
would attract the liberal element of Latin America,
which is the hope of its political future. We
should have in Sao Paulo, in Santiago, Buenos
Ay res, Bogota, Guatemala, Caracas, Coyoacan,
and many other points, schools which, in time,
would be the Princetons and Lafayettes of Brazil,
Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and of every
country of Latin America. Years ago farseeing
missionaries planted and others have nurtured the
institutions they started; when shall we see the
full growth of these schools and colleges?

It now remains to say a few words about that
branch of mission work which is first thought of
by the majority, and which many consider the
truest sphere of missionary labors, that is, the
direct work of evangelization by means of preach-
ing and pastoral visitation: — the evangelistic
work.

First, a word, by way of introduction, as to the
number of churches and societies engaged in this
work.

Sixteen such agencies are mentioned as now
at work in South America; namely, with the date
of commencement, " The Moravian Missionary
Society, 1735; West Indian Conference, 1815;
London Missionary Society, 1821 ; British and
Foreign Bible Society, 1824; American M. E.
Church, North, 1836; Plymouth Brethren, 1840;

The Protestants 219

South American Missionary Society, 1844; Dr.
Kalley's Churches, 'Help for Brazil/ 1855;
American Presbyterian Churches, North and
South, 1856; Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel, 1861 ; American Bible Society, 1864;
American M. E. Church, South, 1875; Southern
Baptist Convention, 1879; Bishop Taylor's Mis-
sion, 1880; American Episcopal, 1889 anc* tne
Salvation Army, 1899." * To this can be added
the work of the Seaman's Friend Society, and of
the American and Foreign Christian Union. The
Episcopal Church merely renewed, in 1889, work
begun in 1860 in Brazil. The Presbyterians and
Moravians have work in Guatemala, and there
are some independent workers in the rest of Cen-
tral America.

Mexico is, perhaps, the country where the
ground is most fully covered. Both the Amer-
ican and Foreign Christian Union, and also Miss
Rankin had independent work, now a part of the
present missions, which are the Presbyterian,
North, South, Associate Reformed, South, and
Cumberland; the Methodists, North and South;
the Baptists, North and South; the Congrega-
tionalists (A. B. C. F. M.), the Friends, Episco-
palians and Seventh Day Adventists. All these
are from the United States. The Plymouth

*S. A., the Neglected Continent, p. 68. A fuller list
of thirty-five societies, including the Guianas, is given
in " Prot. Mis. in S. Am., pp. 225-227."

22O Needs of Latin America

Brethren of England also have work in Mex-
ico.

In 1897 the following statistics of Protestant
work in Mexico were published. Centres of
work, 74 in 24 States of the Republic, with 550
churches and congregations; ordained mission-
aries 59; lady teachers 52; wives and assistants
53; total 164; total Mexican workers 407; com-
municants 14,965; day schools in; students
6,033; theological schools and colleges 9; stu-
dents 1 60; girls' boarding and normal schools
21 ; students 736. To-day the numbers are some-
what larger and the total of communicants is
more than 20,000. 1

The figures for South America are as follows.
Ordained missionaries 255; laymen 199; wives
201; other women 117; male physicians 6; na-
tive workers, of both sexes, 688; stations 224,
outstations 271 ; communicants 30,469; adherents,
not communicants, 28,764; day schools 170; pu-
pils 11,989; higher institutions 14; students 868.2

A glance at the map on which the stations are
indicated will show that while in Mexico, every
state but one or two contains gospel workers ; in
South America, the stations occur in clusters,
mainly on the coast, or along the chief rivers or
railways. There is a group of stations in South-
ern Brazil, others in Argentina, in Chile, in Col-

1 Historical Sketch of Presbyterian Missions, p. 186.
"Protestant Missions in South America, p. 227.

The Protestants 221

ombia, and Venezuela, and the beginning of work
in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.

It is stated that out of a total population of 37,-
000,000 in South America, only about 4,000,000
have in any sense been evangelized. Others have
heard the occasional preaching of the Word, but
are as yet ignorant of its significance, while in
some regions the inhabitants are deprived of even
the imperfect ministrations of the Roman Cath-
olic priests.1

Enough has been said to give an idea of the
work done, and the great need of the neglected
and benighted portions of Latin America. The
great missionary societies of England and Scot-
land have, many of them, no workers in this ex-
tensive field. It would seem that the work is to
be left mainly to our American churches; and,
of these, the Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and
Episcopalian have responded to the cry for help.

It is impossible to give a history of all these
missions. Let us take only one incident from our
work in Brazil. This will illustrate the method
of evangelization in a large city, which is one of
the two divisions into which this work naturally
falls. The other is work in country districts

1 For fuller statistics, I refer you to the Third Volume
of Missions and Social Progress which is soon to be
published, and which will contain as accurate a state-
ment as can be obtained after years of patient labor on
Dr. Dennis's part. Also to the tables given in Protest-
ant Missions in S. Am., pp. 224-227.

222 Needs of Latin America

where itinerating is necessary, and a good deal of
" roughing it " is required of the worker.

City mission work is much the same the world
over, especially in all lands with a civilization
similar to our own. The work in Brazil naturally
began at the capital, from which knowledge of
the truth was carried all over the land by mer-
chants and public men who came thither in the
discharge of their duties, and heard of the new
movement, and perhaps attended the services.
The beginning was very humble. Rev. A. G.
Simonton reached the country in August, 1859,
and, in 1860, was joined by Rev. A. L. Blackford.
In May, 1861, a small room, in the third story of
a building located in a narrow street in the heart
of the city, was opened for services. The audi-
ence consisted of two men, who attended out of
courtesy to Mr. Simonton who was their teacher
in English.

Teaching English is often a good way to gain
the friendship of intelligent young men, and in
some cases to win them to Christ. In this case
the men were agreeably surprised. They came
back again and brought a friend with them ; and
there were six persons present at the third serv-
ice. In January, 1862, a church was organized,
and two members were received; one an Ameri-
can, the other one of the two young men who at-
tended the first service, both converted under
Mr. Simonton's ministrations.

From this small beginning there has been a

The Protestants 223

steady advance, and hundreds have been received
on profession of faith. The congregation no
longer worships in a little upper room, but has a
beautiful stone church in the centre of the city,
near one of the public squares, with accommoda-
tions for seven hundred people. The Sunday au-
diences are large; while the church, under a na-
tive pastor, is entirely self-supporting, and even
carries on outside mission work of its own. The
missionaries and others conduct weekly services
in the suburbs. The work has grown so as to
call for an assistant pastor. The work in Sao
Paulo and other cities is equally encouraging.

God has blessed the work of the two Presby-
terian Missions which united, after a time, in an
independent synod composed of four presbyteries.

" This synod meets once in three years. At
its meeting, in 1897, there were reported: 76
organized churches, — 36 of them self-supporting
— and 134 places of worship, with 5,437 com-
municants; 23 native Brazilian ministers, 3 li-
centiates and 21 foreign missionaries; 9 of the
Northern, and 13 of the Southern Mission. The
cash contributions of the churches during the
year of 1897 amounted to 226,709 milreis. These
are eloquent facts." 1

The same general method has been fol-
lowed in starting all our Presbyterian mis-
sions. In conscious or instinctive imitation of

1 Braz. Bui., June, 1898,

224 Needs of Latin America

Paul, the large cities have been occupied first, and
from these strategic centres the work has radiated
into neighboring towns, villages and ranches, as
the way has been providentially opened. Owing
to this second element, some of the missions are
very compact, while others cover more thinly a
very extensive area. Bogota, the capital of the
Republic, has long been the chief centre in Colom-
bia; Santiago and Valparaiso were first occupied
in Chile; and work in Venezuela began at Car-
acas. Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Bahia are
strategic points in Brazil; while the Methodists
are strong in Montevideo and Buenos Ay res.

This method is also much in evidence in the ex-
tension of work in Mexico. The capital of the
Republic, Mexico City, is the chief centre of
nearly all the important missions. One or another
of the twelve missionary societies at work in the
Republic, holds services in nearly every state
capital, large interior city, or port of entry. So
true is this, as also the other fact that Congrega-
tionalists and Presbyterians have tried not to du-
plicate workers in any part of the field, that to-
day the Congregationalists and the four Presby-
terian bodies, _cover nearly the entire Republic.
The same is true also of the Baptists and Metho-
dists. In some cases these missions, and the oth-
ers named above, have avoided work in the same
place unless of sufficient size to afford ample
room for all.

About every centre are grouped villages and

The Protestants 225

rural districts, where are frequently to be found,
more members than in our city churches. Many
of these converts are of Indian descent, with little
or no admixture of foreign blood ; and some have
only a limited use of the Spanish language. This
second branch of the evangelistic work can be il-
lustrated by a reference to the spread of our
Mexico Mission.

In 1872, our General Assembly voted to open
work in Mexico, and sent out three missionaries,
one of whom Dr. Henry C. Thomson remained in
the country for twenty years and did a grand
work as pioneer missionary and educator. Miss
Melinda Rankin, on the border and in Monterey,
and Dr. G. Mallet Prevost in Zacatecas, had done
some preparatory work to which our mission fell
heir; and the Christian Union had begun work
several years earlier. There was also a group of
independent Mexican Christians, drawn together
by a study of the Bible, who held their own serv-
ices in a rented hall in Mexico City. One of
these, Rev. Arcadio Morales, joined our mission
and has been a most efficient pastor and preacher.
Of late years he has held revival services in
many cities and at all our great gatherings; and
has received from all. a title suggested more by
the nature of his work than the alliteration: Ar-
cadio Morales, the Moody of Mexico. His
work as a revivalist dates from Mr. Moody's
visit to Mexico, in 1895.

From the capital of the Republic, our work ex-

226 Needs of Latin America

tending to the state capital Toluca and to Ozumba,
each with its group of outstations, and to several
villages which nestle in the beautiful valley of
Mexico, at the foot of the lava beds or on the
banks of its historic lakes and canal. The work
also reached out into several of the states ; Guer-
rero, Michoacan, Hidalgo, Vera Cruz, Tabasco
and Yucatan.

The visit of Messrs. Hutchinson and Diaz to
Acapulco, Guerrero, led to the frightful massacre
of 1875. After he had recovered from his wounds,
Mr. Diaz, who had given up his colonelcy in the
army, and his seat in the house of deputies of his
state, devoted his time to touring among the
mountains of Guerrero. In 1884, in seven
weeks, he and Dr. J. Milton Greene, organized
13 congregations and 6 churches, and baptized
and received into full communion 280 converts.

The work spread with equal rapidity in the
Zitacuaro district of Michoacan, mainly under
Mr. Daniel Rodriguez, who resigned his pros-
pects as a lawyer in government employ, to do
gospel work. In 1893, and later, Mr. Campbell
made long tours on horseback across the Sierra
Madre to the Pacific, encouraging many groups
of believers to hold their own services and sup-
port their own growing work.

I cannot follow the extension of the work in
the States about the Gulf, where we have some of
our most liberal givers to the cause of self-sup-
port; or of our Mexican Home Mission Board,

The Protestants 227

with its twenty congregations in the mountains of
Mexico and Guerrero, where two years ago 151
were received into the church in a four weeks'
trip by Mr. Arellano. In Merida, we have one of
our finest congregations, made up largely of de-
scendants of the ancient Mayas, and almost in
sight of the massive ruins of Uxmal and other
cities of a pre-historic past. While this rapid ex-
tension was taking place in the South, there was
a similar growth in the North from Monterey,
Saltillo, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi. Many of
the early workers have gone to their reward.
Others are still with us, among them Rev. Dr.
T. F. Wallace, who after forty years of mission-
ary service, first in Colombia, and then in Mexico,
carries on an important evangelistic work, be-
loved alike by all who know him, both natives
and foreigners.

I never run over the field in this fashion but I
feel a glow of enthusiasm for the work, and recall
the cordial, hospitable welcome given the mis-
sionary in many humble homes way up in the
mountains, or hidden amid the long grass or the
forests of the tropical lowlands, as well as in more
commodious houses in the towns and cities. It is
worth a lifetime of labor to win such a reward of
love and confidence. God's blessing is on this
work for which our native Christians have made
great sacrifices, and to which, now that they see
the need they have begun to contribute liberally ;
so that we have many churches which are par-

228 Needs of Latin America

tially self-supporting, and three Presbyteries,
with talk of a Synod in the immediate fu-
ture.

Of self-support and its problems, and the op-
position to our work, I shall speak later. Enough
to say here that all the missions give equally en-
couraging reports, and each church is organized
in accord with its own form of government.

In carrying on this varied and extended work,
we use the ordinary instrumentalities which have
approved themselves to the Christian worker at
home; namely, the Bible, Christian literature,
preaching, Sabbath schools, prayer-meetings,
young peoples' societies, pastoral work with home
visitation of outsiders, and conversation with in-
dividuals whenever and wherever possible. As
a rule we begin by holding services in private
dwellings, then in a rented hall, and later in
churches built in whole or in part by the native
converts.

The different denominations are drawing
nearer together in the work. In Mexico, for ex-
ample, the various missions and churches hold
joint conventions. In 1888 and 1897, Assemblies
of all the Christian workers in the Republic were
convened and largely attended. A committee on
comity was appointed and, to it, cases as to jur-
isdiction and division of territory were submitted
with satisfactory results. Only a year ago the
Methodist Conference, after hearing our state-
ment of the case, decided not to enter Vera Cruz

PRESBYTERIAN GIRLS' NORMAL SCHOOL, MEXICO CITY

The Protestants 229

where the Presbyterians were already at work.
This is as it should be. The Associate Reformed
Missions have entered into similar adjustments
with our Mission. There is also a confederation
of Sunday school workers, Christian Endeavor-
ers, Epworth Leaguers, and members of the Bap-
dist Young People's Unions, and temperance
workers, which meets annually. The last gath-
ering, July, 1900, was attended by 470 young peo-
ple, native pastors and missionaries from all over
the Republic.

This bare outline of a work so vast and varied
seems very cold and unsatisfactory to one who
knows the toil and stress, the deep sorrow and
cheerful hope, the conquering faith and love hid-
den beneath these brief, bald statements. The
very multiplicity of details excludes nearly all.
We look back to the Huguenot colony, driven
from Brazil to France more than three centuries
ago; to the seemingly small results achieved by
the Dutch and Moravian missionaries, outside the
narrow limits of Guiana ; to the early sporadic at-
tempts at exploration of the new field, thrown
open when independence was won; and then we
look at the work as it is to-day. Latin America
has not advanced with strides as rapid as those
of our Anglo-Saxon homeland; but it has ad-
vanced. Romanism now bids fair to be in the fu-
ture, of a milder, less extravagant type ; shorn of
many of its oldtime pomps and vanities. Bitter
persecution of our work is likely to die out. As

230 Needs of Latin America

means of communication improve, our workers
enter new fields. In every city of importance, we
now have witnesses to the evangelical faith, the
Bible is accessible to all, and thousands read our
Protestant literature. The evangelical churches
own, in the aggregate, much valuable property.
Many of cur schools are of excellent quality. Our
church members are numbered by tens of thou-
sands, with a steady annual increase. Our friendly
adherents or well-wishers are a numerous, and
influential body of men and women. In many
places, a second, even a third, generation has
grown up born and educated in Protestantism.
Each year has its story of new places entered, and
new professions of faith in Jesus Christ.

The wonderful advance made years ago hi
Zitacuaro and Guerrero is paralleled to-day in the
field of our Mexican Home Mission Board;
where, as already mentioned, 151 men and women
were won to Christ in two years of pioneer, evan-
gelistic work by two humble but consecrated men,
elders in Mr. Morales' church. On the other
hand, in the older fields, the movement no longer
awakens the same degree either of antipathy or of
curiosity. We have settled down to slow, labor-
ious plodding; and find ourselves face to face
with an indifference harder to conquer than open
antagonism. We understand the magnitude of
the task and its difficulties, as never before. This
should not cause us to falter; but rather to press
on with more energy and a stouter resolutioa

The Protestants 231

We are not discouraged, but full of hope, for !n
the new awakening in commercial and intellectual
life which has come to Latin America, we be-
lieve that God has a place and a work for our
Evangelical Christian churches.

Lecture V— The Present Problem

Workman of God! O, lose not heart,

But learn what God is like,
And in the darkest battlefield

Thou shalt know where to strike.

Thrice blest is he to whom is given

The instinct that can tell
That God is on the field when he

Is most invisible.

Blest, too, is he who can divine

Where real right doth lie,
And dares to take the side that seems

Wrong to man's blindfold eye.

For right is right, since God is God;

And right the day must win ;
To doubt would be disloyalty,

To falter would be sin.

Faber.

Synopsis of Lecture V

INTRODUCTORY. — The four factors in the problem.—
Pagan and semi-pagan Indians. — Adherents of Romanism.
— Liberal leaders, advocates of religious liberty. — Protest-
ant missionaries and native workers.

1. PAPAL AND PROTESTANT CONDITIONS CONTRASTED. — x.
Use of force. — 2. Colonists and mixed race Roman
Catholics by birth. — Protestant colonists few.

Compromises with error. — Protestantism more radical.

Other disadvantages. — Protestantism proscribed. — Perse-
cution.— Examples. — Improvement.

Attitude toward Americans. — Distrust of political plans.
— Monroe doctrine.—" Peaceful Conquest."— Latin Ameri-
can Alliance. — Feeling in Peru. — In Montevideo, Uruguay.
— False motives imputed to missionaries.

An advantage. — Favorable attitude of liberal party. —
Avoid political entanglements. — Thankful for friendly at-
titude.— Not exaggerate its significance.

II. THREEFOLD INFLUENCE OF PROTESTANTISM. — Hard to
determine. — Latin America nominally Christian. — More
like a revival and reformation. — Variety of agencies at
work. — The press and popular education. — Evangelical
Christianity also an agent. — Recognized as such by liberal
leaders.

Manifestations of evangelical influence. — i. In individual
character. — Intemperance. — Temperance movement begun
by missionaries.

2. Influence of Protestantism on the family. — Homes of
Latin America. — Social code of Europe. — Family discipline.
— Respect for appearances. — Impurity. — Laxity as to mar-
riage rite. — Causes. — Firm stand of Protestantism. — Women
entering more callings.

3. Humanitarian and philanthropic movements. — Already
have hospitals and physicians. — Only few Protestant medi-
cal mission stations.

4V The higher life of society. — Protestant work for secu-
lar and religious instruction.

5. On national life and character. — Help in advocacy of
religious liberty. — Protestant natives advocate separation of
Church and State.

6. Trade and commerce. — Not appreciably affected by
missions.

7. On religious faith and practice. — The threefold influ-
ence of Protestantism. — (i.) Upon leaders of liberal
thought.— (2.) On the Roman Catholic church. — Counter

reformation not impossible. — (3.) On lives of converts.
— Observance of Sunday. — Circulation of the Bible. —
Young people's societies.

III. PROSPECT FOR SELF-SUSTAINING PROTESTANT WORK.
— Still need foreign aid. — For Bible societies. — Presses and
literature. — Schools of higher education. — Native congre-
gations can support evangelistic and pastoral work in large

part. — Apostolic plan. — Statistics.
CONCLUSION. — Gi

neatness of the present opportunity. —
Outlook for Indian. — For mixed race. — Immigration.—
for all our efforts. — A great and promising field.
234

LECTURE V
The Present Problem

As one of her own poets has said, there is " A future
for Latin America, immense as her mountains and her
seas, brilliant as her skies and her resplendent stars."

MarmoL

The four factors in the problem of Latin
America's religious development, — the pagan, pa-
pal, patriot and protestant, — are all in active work
to-day.

Lowest in the scale, we have the millions
of pagan or semi-pagan Indians, described in
our first lecture. The great mass of heathen
Indians is as yet untouched. The work for their
conversion is as difficult and dangerous as any to
be found in India, China, Africa, or the Islands
of the sea. After four centuries the Roman
Catholic church has failed to reach them. We
stand and criticize it for its failure. Can we do
any better? What are we doing? Practically
nothing; yet the cry for help from darkest pagan
America comes to us still in all its force.

The second factor is found in the adherents of
Romanism, who still form the bulk of the popu-
lation. They are not all alike ; but fall naturally
into two groups, between which there are notable

236 Needs of Latin America

contrasts. On the one hand are the mass of ig-
norant, superstitious worshippers who accept
what they are told, and do what they are bidden,
with little or no thought. Over against these is
a wealthy, conservative element, strong in social
and political influence. They do not intend to
yield without a struggle. In all Latin America
there are signs of a Roman Catholic revival of
power. Disestablishment, wherever effected, has
but served to arouse the Church to the putting
forth of all her energies to make good, in one way
or another, what has been lost in the struggle, or
given up in deference to more enlightened public
opinion. This is perfectly natural; and for this
reason we must reckon with a revived Romanism
in our study of the present religious problem in
Roman Catholic America.

The Romish church is not at present, nor to
judge by present indications, soon likely to be, re-
duced to a weak minority. It is still a strong, in-
fluential majority in social, not to say political
life, even under liberal governments. It is foolish
to delude ourselves with over-sanguine hopes.
Of course God, in his good providence, may work
sudden changes of which we cannot foresee the
advent, and we may cherish a strong hope in this
case also. But probably, for a long time to come,
we shall have against us and our work the domi-
nant social, and at times, political influence of the
papacy. This fact, far from disheartening us,
should nerve us to our best endeavor. When

The Present Problem 237

men endued with faith in God, attempt apparently
impossible things, God honors their faith and
crowns their efforts with success.

The third factor is the liberal party, which has
won religious liberty, or at least the toleration of
Protestantism, in every country of Latin Amer-
ica. They have done a grand and necessary
work. They have opened the door; but, aside
from affording us the protection of the laws, are
not to be expected to do our work for us. In-
deed, in many cases, the Protestant worker must
reckon with the open infidelity, or, at best, the
religious indifference, of the majority of the lib-
eral leaders, whose main efforts are directed to-
ward securing political stability, and perfecting
a system of popular education.

The Protestant forms the last factor introduced
into the religious problem of Latin America. Our
purpose is to complete the work of religious and
spiritual education. Our work is twofold. In
its general aspects, it is to raise the moral stand-
ard of the whole country in beliefs and practices.
Specifically, it consists in building up a self-sup-
porting, self-propagating native Protestant
church.

The conditions under which we work are dif-
ferent from those which have confronted the Ro-
man Catholic worker from the beginning of his
propaganda down to the present time. At risk
of some repetition, it seems necessary to rehearse
the conditions under which Protestant and Ro-

238 Needs of Latin America

man Catholic workers have labored, in order that
we may have them clearly in mind.

We have seen that priest and monk came into
pagan America side by side with the conquering
soldier. The Roman Catholic missionary en-
joyed all the prestige of the victorious race whose
spiritual representative he was. Force was freely
used where milder measures failed. Ancient tem-
ples and idols were blotted from the view in or-
der that upon the sacred sites of paganism Ro-
mish sanctuaries might be built and, in turn, de-
light the savage heart with pomps and ceremonies
and miracle working images. Protestants can
never hope to labor in this way.

Imagine the hue and cry which would have
been raised, if the Protestant missionary had be-
gun his work with an invading army at his back ;
leveling to the ground Romish temples, closing
convents, degrading all the priests from their
sacred office, and then filling the land with new
Protestant churches, making the new service the
only lawful form of worship, while our country-
men established themselves as a ruling class in all
the length and breadth of the land. Thank God
this never has been or can be our method. The
Protestant missionary does not use the sword
of Cortes or of Pizarro but the sword of the
Spirit. Yet, with human nature as it is, a display
of force deemed to be irresistible, will often win
outward conformity, where the gentler spiritual
appeal is passed by unheeded. This is our disad-

The Present Problem 239

vantage, perhaps, but it is much to the honor of
our propaganda.

Protestantism cannot hope for any outside aids
to its extension, except to a very limited degree ;
and only in this sense, that the English and
American colonies which are found to-day in all
the large cities of Latin America are steadily
growing in size, while the culture and social
standing of many of their members are surely, if
slowly, teaching even the most ignorant of the na-
tive population, something of the nature and dig-
nity of Protestantism.

There are chapels where English services are
held in nearly all the cities. For example in
Mexico City there are four English speaking
congregations. This is a help in the right direc-
tion. Unfortunately, however, so many of our
countrymen accept the irreligious customs of
their adopted land, that this good influence is, for
the present, practically neutralized, and our na-
tive converts have to learn to distinguish between
nominal Protestants, and the real followers of
Jesus Christ. We may, therefore, say that the
influences which made Latin America Roman
Catholic, do not operate in anything like the same
degree in favor of the Protestant propaganda.

We cannot try to win popularity at the expense
of truth. We cannot make the transition easy by
compromises with error. This the papal church
did, and still does ; and her astuteness in so doing
is applauded even by some Protestant writers.

240 Needs of Latin America

The fact is that so many of the Romish cere-
monies were already but adaptations of classical
and other pagan forms, that a few more such
compromises with heathenism made little differ-
ence to the minds of their missionaries, whose
consciences were blunted on this question. Then,
too, these compromises helped to conciliate the
Indians, giving the whole population fine oppor-
tunities for the happy union of pleasure seeking,
religious worship and commercial dealings. The
great fiestas became fairs for barter, gaming and
penitential rites. All who mention the subject
make note of this fact. In addition to the ex-
amples already given let me mention one or two
more, for I have noticed that even Protestant
tourists, when they enter the sacred shrines, look
mainly on their architectural beauty, the paint-
ings and other works of art, and seldom stop to
recall that it is all in commemoration of some ly-
ing wonder, and to perpetuate a lie; and that it
has a degrading, demoralizing influence on the
votaries who worship at these shrines.

Humboldt says that he saw the Mexican In-
dian " marked and adorned with tinkling bells,
perform savage dances around the altar while
a monk of St. Francis elevated the host." The
French Abbe Emanuel Domenech wrote, in 1867 :
" The idolatrous character of Mexican Catholi-
cism is a fact well-known to all travellers. The
worship of saints and Madonnas so absorbs the
devotion of the people that little time is left to

The Present Problem 241

think about God. One day I was present at an
Indian dance, celebrated in honor of the patron
saint of the village. Twenty-four boys and girls
were dancing in the church, in the presence of
the priest. An Indian, with his face concealed,
under a mask of an imaginary divinity resembling
the devil, with horns and claws, was directing
the figures of the dance, which reminded me of
that of the Redskins! I remarked to the priest
that it was very incongruous to permit such a
frolic in a church. ' The old customs ' he replied,
' are respectable, it is well to preserve them, only
taking care that they do not degenerate into
orgies/ " *

Mrs. Gooch describes a similar scene at the
shrine of Guadalupe, in 1887, on the spot sacred,
you will remember, to Tonantzin, a heathen
mother of the gods. Her comment was " I could
not but feel awe in the presence of these dark chil-
dren of the wild mountains as they performed
their mystical devotions and sang the rude, bar-
baric songs that had in their tones the strangeness
of another world."

W. E. Curtis, writing as late as 1899, describes
an Indian celebration of the Asuncion de la Vir-
gen, in La Paz, Bolivia. After mass in the
church, the Indians gathered in the public square
and " began the dances and other ceremonies

1 See " Mexico in Transition " for fuller treatment of
this aspect of the question.

242 Needs of Latin America

which have been inherited from the days of the
Incas, and are said to be of serious significance;
like the ghost dances of the Sioux, the corn dance
of the Navajoes, the snake dance of the Crows,
and other similar rites practised by the red men
of North America." Prof. Bandelier says that
every action had a hidden meaning. The dress
was fantastic ; the gesticulation, wild ; and all got
drunk on native liquor, — and this in honor of the
Virgin ! There is no dearth of material out of
which to give descriptions of this kind.

Imagine, if you can, our Protestant mission-
aries making such compromises with error. How
long would those who excuse such conduct on
the part of monks 'and priests, tolerate it in the
evangelical worker? We make no compromises
with error. Our converts burn all their idols,
give up superstitious practices, and use only the
simple worship of Protestantism. If the appeal
is to be made to fear and fancy, the odds de-
cidedly are against us. On the one side lies and
lying wonders, many holidays, with drinking and
gaming and gaudy ceremonials ; on the other the
simple Protestant worship with hymn and prayer,
Scripture reading and exposition. It is a glaring
contrast and attracts universal attention.

Many are at first astonished at the simplicity of
our worship. In fact, many writers, foreign and
native, claim that Roman Catholic ceremonialism
suits the Indo-European temperament, and that

The Present Problem 243

our refusal to use similar attractions foredooms
us to failure.

The judgments of Prescott and Curtis have al-
ready been quoted. A Mexican statesman and
historian, General Riva Palacio, maintains the
same thing. " The races of the North," he says,
" had in their organism a predisposition for the
severe Protestant worship ; the men of the South,
endowed with ardent imagination, could not rest
satisfied with such arid practices; and the daz-
zling ceremonies of the Catholic church, and its
poetic and ardent petitions, were for them. a neces-
sity; a spiritual food, without which they could
neither preserve nor understand the religious life
of the spirit." 1 .

While this dictum is true of many Latin
Americans, it would seem to be equally true of
the many Anglo-Saxons who prefer a liturgy and
ritual in worship. The desire, however, for re-
publican simplicity is sufficiently widespread in
the Latin Republics, and our success with the ig-
norant, when once they are enlightened, is suffi-
ciently pronounced to warrant the belief that ig-
norance on the one hand, and worldliness on the
other, have more to do with the question than
temperament, to which appeal is so often made.
When once the masses south of the Rio Grande
are educated; when Protestant belief does not

In vol. ii, of Mex. at. Siglos.

244 Needs of Latin America

entail social ostracism, when longing for a higher
spiritual life has been awakened; then, and not
till then, can a fair test be made between the at-
tractive power of ceremonies, and of a simple
gospel form of worship. When that day comes,
we expect to see a greater influx into our Pro-
testant churches. Till then the Nicodemuses will
hold back for fear of public opinion, and the
masses from ignorance and from a disinclination
for the real sacrifices demanded by a godly walk
and conversation.

But even if Protestantism had to-day, in Latin
America, a social standing, or wealth and political
power, equal to those of Romanism, if true to it-
self and the Master, it would not have the same
kind of success as that achieved by papal mis-
sionaries in so short a time after the Conquest,
and we do not wish to have it.

Take, for illustration, as a case in point, the
relative spread of Christianity and Islam in Af-
rica. The greater rapidity and extent in the spread
of Mohammedanism in the dark-continent has
been cited in some quarters to the disparagement
of Christianity. The same is said of Romanism
in contrast with Protestantism. Of course a re-
ligion which, whatever the theory, in practice re-
quires but little more than outward conformity
and the perfunctory observance of certain cere-
monies, and outward acts of devotion and pen-
ance, can win its way where the demands of a
truly Christ-like walk and conversation would be

The Present Problem 245

pushed aside as too strict and searching to be
borne. The confessional and penance led to the
practical toleration of vices which our sterner
creed will not compromise with. It is easier to
scourge oneself as a penitente with iron whips or
cactus thorns, or walk on lacerated knees over
sharp stones to some sacred shrine, than to accept
the gospel law of purity. The task of Romanism,
set side by side with that undertaken by evan-
gelical missions, is seen to be as small in contrast
as the molehill of man-made Cholula, to the
heaven piercing Popocatepetl whose head is
crowned with the whiteness of the unsullied
snow.

Try both propagandas by the test of their work-
ing ideals. We have to insist on the renunciation
of darling vices, the curbing of passions, and a
radical change of life. We make much of the
work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. Our ideal
is spiritual. The average Latin American knows
little or nothing of spirituality in the sense, for
example, of Meyer and Murray and Moody; and
this explains why Protestantism advances so
slowly. Habits grown strong with centuries of
self-indulgence, fostered, if you will, by the cli-
mate, plead for by poor, weak human nature,
are all against Protestantism. The sweeping,
superficial successes of Romanism are not for
us. We dare not pay the price paid by the pa-
pacy : — the unworthy compromises with pagan-
ism and sin. It is the glory of Protestantism

1246 Needs of Latin America

that, if small, it is the little leaven of truth and
righteousness which is to leaven the masses of
Latin America.

There are also disadvantages of another kind
under which evangelical workers labor. When
Protestant missions were first thought of it was
found that such work was under the ban of laws
enacted to prohibit any but the Roman Catholic
religion; and since this ban has been removed,
the work has had to encounter a social prejudice
which has all the strength and persecuting power
of legal enactments. In a word the papal church
controlled the situation and used its power to per-
secute and prevent the introduction of Protestant-
ism.

For example: You remember that Mr. Brig-
ham, after his trip through South America and
Mexico in the twenties, thought it unwise to
begin at that time formal mission work, because
of the prohibitory clauses in the constitutions of
the new republics ; because of the religious fanat-
icism of the lower orders ; because, as he said, of
the " putrid mass of superstition, on which the
sun of liberty must shine still longer before we
can safely enter in and labor/'

Many in the United States cannot, or will not,
understand the attitude toward Protestants, of a
dominant papal church. In countries like our
own, where he is in a minority, the Romanist
advocates toleration. It is his only hope. When

The Present Problem

247

in power, then intolerance and persecution is the
rule. As a frank Roman Catholic expressed it
in an article in the Rambler, the papist might,
under necessity, tolerate the Protestant, but, he
adds, " if expedient he would imprison you, fine
you, possibly he might even hang you. But be
assured of one thing, he would never tolerate you
for the sake of the ' glorious principles ' of civil
and religious liberty." *

What I have myself witnessed, during sixteen
years in Mexico, confirms this frank statement.
And here is another, equally outspoken, which I
translate from the Defensa Catolica, published in
Mexico, in 1887. The capitals are theirs. " True
charity consists in opposing one's neighbor, in
injuring him in his material interests, in insulting
him and in TAKING HIS LIFE, always suppos-
ing that it is done for love of God. In the Lord's
service, and for love of him, we MUST, if need
be, offend men; we must, if need be, WOUND
THEM AND KILL THEM. Such actions are
virtuous, and can be performed in the name of
CATHOLIC CHARITY."

This, of course, is not the opinion or attitude
of all ; but it is the spirit of many ; and has led
to bloody persecutions. The massacre in Aca-
pulco, when Don Procopio Diaz was cruelly
maimed, and ten or more were killed, is a case in
point.

1 Quoted in Mexico in Transition.

248 Needs of Latin America

Shortly after I reached Mexico, in 1884, when
this same devoted man and Don Nicanor Gomez
went over from Capulhuac to the neighboring In-
dian village of Almoloya del Rio, and tried to
hold a Protestant service there, the parish priest
denounced the Protestants; and the faithful,
mad with passion, rushed from the church on
that Sabbath morning to the fiut where our people
were assembled, and stoned Don Nicanor to death,
and Don Procopio barely escaped a similar fate
owing to the fleetness of his horse; and this oc-
curred only fifty miles from Mexico City.

In 1887, in Ahuacatitlan, Rev. Abram Gomez,
a youthful graduate of our theological seminary,
and his elder, Mr. Felipe Zaragosa, were set upon
by a mob of men and women, also at the in-
stigation of a priest who had boasted that he
would exterminate the Protestants. Both were
killed, and the blood-stained Bible of Mr. Gomez
was placed, in mockery, beneath his head. Some
of the brethr *. who gave timely alarm were
thrown into jail by the fanatical authorities. It
was only after an interview of the missionaries
with President Diaz, and at his command, that
the matter was taken up and the rioters punished.

A fourth massacre occurred in El Carro, insti-
' gated by a priest and his brother. Early mission-
aries have told me of the perils to which they were
exposed. For example, Phillips at Queretaro;
Greenman in Celaya ; Thomson in San Luis Po-

The Present Problem 249

tosi and Zacatecas; Grimes at Patzcuaro; and
the martyred Stevens at Ahualulco.

Dr. John W. Butler, of the M. E. Mission, has
told me about the murder of Epigmenio Monroy
at Apizaco, in 1881, and the massacre at Atzala
in 1876. The congregation was gathered for
worship one evening when " they were startled
on finding themselves surrounded by a mob of fa-
natical Mexicans who were crying : — ' Death to
the Protestants.' They desired to continue quietly
in their place of worship, but soon found that the
building was on fire. They also soon discovered
that it was absolutely necessary for them to leave
the building. As they did so they were met by
armed fanatics who cut them down without mercy,
and in one short hour, twenty-eight of the con-
gregation were cruelly murdered."

Lesser incidents of houses and organs burned,
and of petty persecution in trade and social inter-
course, might be greatly multiplied. The fight of
Mr. Norwood in Colombia, and of Penzotti and
others in Peru,1 show the same persecuting spirit.
These are recent events, as 'also the attempt on a
young Protestant girl in Irapuato, in 1898. She
was dragged to the public square by the mob
with threats that they would burn her.

1 Jose Mongiardino was murdered in Bolivia by two
emissaries of the priesthood. See description of this
and other persecutions, in " Protestant Missions in S.
Am.," pp. I49-IS3.

250 Needs of Latin America

This occurred on the line of Mexican Central
Railway, at a town where tourists buy strawber-
ries from the car windows. One fanatical sheet,
El Tiempo, raised its voice in defense of the mob,
but the rest of the dailies roundly denounced their
action, and called for the punishment of the of-
fenders. This attitude on their part does not
give the lie to past violence, but adds one more
proof as to the pervasive power of Protestant in-
fluence, which thus changes public sentiment.
All honor to the martyrs whose blood, to-day, as
ages ago, has proved to be the seed of the church.

There is still another form of opposition, di-
rected this time against the missionary, because of
his nationality as an American. It is the appeal
made by our opponents to race prejudice.

There is prevalent, south of the Bravo, a certain
distrust of the American and his intentions in ref-
erence to the Latin republics. It is easy to make
too much of this suspicion as to our motives, and
of the current dislike for the " Yankee." The in-
dividual American who comports himself with
dignity and kindliness, with sincerity and tact,
will win friends and be esteemed for his own sake.
Unfortunately not all of our countrymen thus
comport themselves ; and the history of the past,
viewed from a Latin American standpoint, does
not look quite the same as it does to the citizen
of our expanding commonwealth.

For example, let us begin with our next door
neighbor, as we like to call the sister republic to

The Present Problem 251

the southward. The patriotic Mexican cannot
forget the slice of territory lost in the war of '47,
and all his histories tell him that he was badly
treated, and so the memory of his loss is bitter.
It has also served as an eye opener. The South
American, for his part, wonders, so he tells us,
just what fatherly form the Monroe doctrine may
take next. The priests, who had grown used to
being called traitors themselves, by their liberal
countrymen, saw a good chance to turn the tables
on their opponents; and have not been slow to
improve their opportunity. So they denounced
the American missionaries as spies and emis-
saries of the United States government, sent out
to pave the way for annexation, or for some kind
of suzerainty. Look, say they, at the fate of
Puerto Rico and the Philippines, to say nothing
of Cuba. The slander has just enough point to
be like the proverbial cat with its nine lives.
Although hurled headlong from any height of
eloquent denial, this insinuation of " peaceful con-
quest " is always very much alive.

It is sometimes a good thing to see ourselves as
others see us. The sight may cause us consider-
able surprise. We believe in the high destiny of
our country, and that wherever her flag goes the
people will be benefited. But Latin Americans
talk of an alliance to act as a check to the ambi-
tious schemes of the United States. The Mon-
roe doctrine can throw a shadow, as well as a
shield, over the mission field, to judge by what

252 Needs of Latin America

these critics say. Sometimes it is a thing to con-
jure with, or an aegis behind which defenceless
American republics may take shelter, as in the
case of the Venezuelan boundary claims. Men
wonder, however, what lurks behind all this pro-
tecting kindness.

When Minister Mariscal, in his recent Chicago
speech, thanked the United States for Seward's
ultimatum to Napoleon III, which forced the
French monarch to withdraw his support from
Maximilian, thus leaving him to the tender mer-
cies of Juarez and the patriot army, he brought
down upon himself a storm of criticism and car-
icature in Mexico because he said that, but for this
timely help, the enemies of liberty might have tri-
umphed. It was only a straw, that little word
'* might," but straws show which way the wind
blows.

This same attitude of suspicion was noticeable
in numerous articles published in South American
papers during our war with Spain. The United
States was accused of bad faith in its dealings
with Cuba and the Philippines, and an alliance of
the Latin republics was suggested, as already
mentioned.

W. E. Curtis wrote a signed article to the Chi-
cago Record, in which he pointed out several
trade and treaty reasons for this distrust of Uncle
Sam. He said : The people do not " believe
that our protestations of friendship are entirely
disinterested. Their suspicions are based upon

The Present Problem 253

experience, in some measure, and particularly
upon their observation of our inconsistent and
eccentric national policy in foreign affairs."

After dwelling upon our changes of policy, he
continued : " The ease with which the expansion
policy has been adopted by the United States has
also excited their suspicion; and mischievous
newspaper writers, particularly those of Spanish
sympathies, have taken occasion to moralize upon
the results of the war, with the view of convinc-
ing the South Americans that our previous pre-
tensions that we were not a nation of conquest,
were quite as delusive as our expressions of
friendship, and our desire for commercial inti-
macy."

The above was written from Peru and the Pa-
cific. From Montevideo, which together with
Argentina, is having a wonderful influx of im-
migrants, especially of Italians, Rev. Dr. S. P.
Graver, of the M. E. Mission, wrote as follows.
We were openly accused, he said, of a " thirst
for conquest," and of using a humanitarian plea
which was " cheap talk." The Yankee was called
a hypocrite. The acts of violence in the United
States against Indians, Chinamen and negroes,
lost nothing by passing through the medium of the
South American press. Our present policy is
viewed with alarm. " If the United States have
laid aside their traditional policy and propose to
enter upon a self-imposed task of policing the
world, what guarantee has any South American

254 Needs of Latin America

country that on some fine day the American eagle
will not pounce down upon it and annex it for
' humanitarian reasons ' ? Consequently every-
thing looking like North American intervention in
South American affairs meets with opposition." 1

El Tiempo, one of the chief Roman Catholic
organs of Mexico City, is constantly sounding a
similar note of alarm. While intelligent men only
laugh, or hide their real feelings, the masses are
influenced; and it is -for them these paragraphs
are penned. Those who oppose Protestantism
are astute enough to try to show that it is but the
handmaid of Anglo-Saxon aggressiveness.

A somewhat similar feeling has been awakened
in the minds of some native Protestants by reason
of the utterances of some of our workers, while
advocating self-support in native churches. The
prejudice thus aroused, and the consequent mis-
interpretation of motives, makes it hard for the
missionary, and also for the native helper who
works with the mission. It is hard for the latter
to be called a traitor and an ally of his country's
enemies, for he knows that he is a true patriot,
and working for the best interests, temporal and
spiritual, of his native land. The missionary, who
feels the delicacy of this whole problem, will study
the situation carefully, and try to deserve the con-
fidence and esteem of the people. Only thus can

1 From an article in The Independent, of New York,
1899.

The Present Problem 255

he help them toward a right solution of the prob-
lem of a self-supporting native church. As the
work passes more largely into native hands, the
accusations to which reference is here made will
be seen to be false, and the work will be seen in
its true light as a patriotic movement for the
moral regeneration of Latin America; and, as
such, entirely independent of politics.

After mention of all these difficulties under
which Protestants carry on their work, it is but
just to mention one most encouraging feature.
Frequent reference has been made in the course
of these lectures to a liberal party. Its members
are, as a rule, friendly to Protestantism; at least
as an offset to the political power of the papacy.
In some countries this party is in political control,
in others it is growing in power. Leaders such
as Diaz in Mexico, Romana in Peru, Pando in
Bolivia, Roca in Argentina, are friendly to Amer-
icans, and desire to promote immigration and the
investment of foreign capital.

It is a curious fact that many regard the terms
liberal, mason and Protestant, as practically
synonymous. Of course this is not always true ;
yet it is true that the liberals have recognized the
help to their cause in the teachings of Protestant-
ism. Some people seem to misunderstand the
nature and extent of this friendliness. In most
cases it is but a willingness to use the missionary
movement as an instrument against the political
power of the clerical party. It is wise for the

256 Needs of Latin America

evangelical worker to recognize this fact, and to
steer clear of entangling alliances. Politics and
religion became so mixed up in the struggle for
liberty that this mistake is not to be wondered at.
For that very reason the Protestant movement
must be emphasized as a strictly religious and
spiritual enterprise, and not as an aid to any po-
litical party.

That the liberals are not necessarily Protest-
ants, in the religious sense of the term, is shown
by the fact that few or none of their leaders have
become members of our churches, or even attend
our services. While appreciative of their friendly
attitude, the Protestant worker is sorry that the
religion of Jesus Christ does not gain entrance to
their hearts.

The attendance of President Diaz at the funeral
services held in honor of the German emperor, in
a Protestant church, was only a question of na-
tional etiquette. Yet a good deal has been made
of it. President Roca, in 1884, attended a Prot-
estant anniversary celebration in Buenos Ayres,
and made a speech in which he complimented the
missionaries on their success. " To their influ-
ence he attributed much of the progress of the
republic, and urged them to enlarge their fields
and increase their zeal." The conservative papers
criticized his speech; the liberal journals ap-
plauded the sentiments expressed; and there the
matter ended.

Guzman Blanco of Venezuela said and did

The Present Problem 257

some enthusiastic things; but probably Barrios
of Guatemala went as far as anybody when he
took back with him a missionary from the States,
sent his children to the mission school, and
helped our work in various ways. He did not
become a convert, however; and his action was
little more than a well-directed blow at political
popery. This friendly attitude, even when thus
limited, is a real help to our cause, and a constant
source of encouragement. We do not ask for, or
desire, the kind of help which devout viceroys
and governors gave to the papal church in such
measure that the church dominated, even dic-
tated, in purely political questions. It is well to
emphasize the fact, until nobody can misunder-
stand it, that Protestant missions aim at some-
thing spiritual. Alas that the consecrated adher-
ence which is asked for by our divine Master is
of such a nature that few in high position have
been willing to give it. Even when the men of
the family are liberals in politics, their wives and
daughters are devout Roman Catholics, and so all
hold aloof from our services.

Bearing in mind, then, these conditions, favor-
able and unfavorable, under which our Protestant
work is carried on, we take up the first of the
two aims which we have in view in all our work,
namely, to raise the moral standard of the whole
country in beliefs and practices ; that is, to create
a new and more spiritual religious atmosphere.

258 Needs of Latin America

What is our influence to-day upon the life and
thought of Latin America ? My personal experi-
ence is limited to Mexico, but my reading leads
me to believe, that, with slight modifications, the
situation is much the same in all the Spanish re-
publics, and in Portuguese Brazil. Let it be borne
in mind that it is a more difficult problem to de-
termine the relation of cause and effect between
Christian missions and social and spiritual prog-
ress in the Roman Catholic countries of the New
World than in strictly pagan lands. Persia and
Syria, with their corrupt forms of Christianity,
are more nearly parallel. The difference between
heathen customs and Christian civilization is more
pronounced, and, therefore, progress within the
sphere of Christian influence stands out in con-
trast as a point of light amid the darkness. What
we have to note in the Latin countries of the new
world is the revivifying influence of evangelical
Christianity on the degenerate life of a grossly
corrupted Roman Catholicism.

That changes have been wrought, none will
deny. The divergence of opinion begins, how-
ever, when the cause is sought to which to attrib-
ute the changes. Those of us who have lived for
a decade, or longer, in any of the more progres-
sive countries of Latin America, can point to
many outward signs of material progress; as,
for example, the extension of railways and tele-
graph lines, the use of the telephone and electric
light, the establishment of new industries, the

The Present Problem 259

improvement in the popular journals and their
wider circulation. There is also a subtle, but sig-
nificant change in the intellectual and moral at-
mosphere of the community. The popular point
of view has been steadily approximating that of
the more enlightened nations of Europe and
America. An enlightened leader like Don Por-
firio Diaz, the " Hero of Peace," in Mexico, can
do wonders in this direction.

Another factor of prime importance, is the
growing intercourse with other nations, for this
insensibly liberalizes and broadens the people. All
these agencies work together with Protestant mis-
sions in the modern transformation of Latin
America, and their interests are closely inter-
woven into each other.

We feel justified, after giving due credit to the
other factors, in claiming much for our mission
work. In proof of this we can cite the judgment
of congressmen, state governors, cabinet officers,
and even the presidents of these republics. All
these see in the Protestant worker one who will
help them in the prosecution of their reforms.

We have already stated that, owing to this very-
cause, evangelical Christianity has, at times, run
the risk of being drawn into politics. This fact
shows that enlightened Latin Americans see in
evangelical Christianity an ally of liberalism; a
reformatory influence of the highest character.
For example, Dr. Wm. Butler, of the M. E. Mis-
sion says in his " Mexico in Transition," that

160 Needs of Latin America

after the Atzala massacre, President Diaz said to
him : " You are greatly depressed and discour-
aged over what has now occurred, and I do not
wonder; but if you knew this country as I know
it, you would feel differently. . . . My ad-
vice is, do not be discouraged. Keep on with
your work, avoiding topics of irritation, and
preaching your gospel in its own spirit, and believe
me that, twenty years hence, religious murders
will have ceased in Mexico, and our people will be
rejoicing in the peace and toleration which our
constitution guarantees to all without distinction."
While not yet entirely fulfilled, this prophecy has
been justified in a large degree. It is also a
striking testimony to the influence of Protestant-
ism.

When, in 1895, the Virgin of Guadalupe was
crowned, and there was much fear of an outburst
of fanatical persecution, the Archbishop of Mex-
ico issued a circular letter in which he advised the
faithful to love the Protestants and to treat them
with toleration. He could not have given stronger
testimony to the indirect influence of Protestant
thought on the popular conscience. He recog-
nized that the days for persecution as a weapon
against Protestantism, had gone, as President
Diaz said they would go. It is no longer politic
to appear to be intolerant.

Hon. Matias Romero tells us, in his " Mexico
and the United States," how he felt after the great
battle for religious liberty had been won. " I

The Present Problem 261

thought," he says, " that one of the best ways to
diminish the evils of the political domination and
abuses of the clergy in Mexico was to favor the
establishment of other sects which would come in
some measure into competition with the Catholic
clergy, and thus cause it to refrain from excesses
of which it had been guilty before." Hon. Ig-
nacio Maniscal has said that many liberals en-
couraged the Protestants, saying " that it was the
tendency of all the religious organizations to be-
come insolent and despotic when they grew
strong, and that what the Roman Catholic church
needed was a rival or rivals." 1

This is native testimony to the influence of
Protestantism; and we have not disappointed
their hopes. Protestantism does provoke the
Roman Catholic Church to good works ; does sec-
ond the best efforts of liberal leaders; and itself
inaugurates new movements of reform; setting
sundry moral questions before the people in a new
light, and leading many to look at them from a
new standpoint.

We cannot do better, in the study of this ques-
tion, than to follow the outline given by Dr. Den-
nis in his Sixth Lecture on Missions and Social
Progress. It is this: Results manifest

1. In individual character.

2. In family life.

3. In humane and philanthropic movements.

*The Independent, New York, November, 1899.

Needs of Latin America

4. In the development of the higher life of so-
ciety.

5. In national life and character.

6. In commercial and industrial life.

7. In religious faith and practice.

We need not treat in detail all the subtopics in-
dicated by Dr. Dennis, but prefer to limit our-
selves to those which best suit our purpose. For
this reason I shall touch upon only one of the
" results manifest in individual character," namely*
the temperance question.

Latin America is not the only part of the world
where the vice of intemperance prevails. While
the wealthy consume the same expensive liquors
the world over, the poor have in every country a
cheap, national beverage. In many parts of
South America the Indians and mixed race
(mestizos) use a drink called chic ha, and chew
coca leaves. The former intoxicates, the latter
destroys the sense of taste and vitiates the whole
being, when used to excess.

Pulque,- the fermented juice of the maguey
plant, a ropy, ill-smelling, whitish liquor, is the
national drink of Mexico. The railroads, which
help in the dissemination of vices as well as of
virtues, now carry pulque in quantities to points
where formerly it was used but little, if at all.
Tequila, mescal and aguardiente are the most
fiery and effective of the native distilled liquors;
while marihuana is a drug which often produces
fatal results.

The Present Problem 263

At a recent temperance meeting convened by
the Protestant missionaries of Mexico City, Mr.
E. C. Butler stated that "thousands of men are
such habitual drinkers that they never do a day's
work ; others are habitually idle much of the time
because of the drink ; while still others are unable
to perform full labor because of the injurious
effects of drink." He estimated, from the statis-
tics to be had, that the average daily consumption
of meat in Mexico City was four ounces per cap-
ita, but, he added, some never eat meat, and stated
further that " of the 340,000 (inhabitants) fully
100,000 eat little or no meat."

The pulque drunk in 1898 was worth five mil-
lion dollars. Many persons, and even children,
drink it for breakfast instead of coffee. Mr.
Morales has had to ask the little children in our
primary day schools in the city to promise not to
drink it, and those who give it up are brighter
and learn more quickly.

" Pulque," continues Mr. Butler, " lies at the
base of the worthlessness and unreliability of a
large proportion of Mexican labor. The labor
dement of Mexico spends more for pulque than
do the better classes for meat. The $5,000,000
spent last year (1898) on this white curse of
Mexico, represented the centavos of the poor.
Had they bought meat instead, they would have
brought up even the average of their poor and un-
known lives." They consumed, he tells us, 200,-
000,000 litres, or " a lake of pulque thirty-five

264 Needs of Latin America

feet deep, over a hundred feet wide and nearly a
mile in length, a lake big enough to carry half
a dozen battle ships like the Olympia." This is a
statement of the consumption of but one intoxi-
cant, and, if I understand Mr. Butler, only for
the city of Mexico.

The liquor problem in Latin America is a sad
one. Sunday is the great day for intoxication;
and San Lunes, or St. Monday, is the saint most
honored by the laboring men, who are unable or
disinclined to work after the spree of the day be-
fore.

I have failed to discover any real effort on the
part of the Roman Catholic Church to cure this
evil. There was no temperance agitation till the
Protestant missionaries began the movement.
Individual Roman Catholics might deprecate the
vice of drunkenness, but there the matter ended.
Even our first converts found it hard to see any
harm in pulque, or even in stronger liquors. The
change in their attitude is a high tribute to Prot-
estantism. The movement in favor of temper-
ance and total abstinence is not due to the average
American colonist, as the most cursory glance at
the numerous foreign saloons and club rooms
will show. It is due simply and solely to the
efforts of Christian missionaries and native Prot-
estant workers.

This agitation of the question will, in time, we
believe, greatly diminish the drinking at the popu-
lar religious feasts, to which the natives come in

The Present Problem 265

crowds ; for public sentiment will force the church
to put a stop to these open abuses. Already some
slight improvement can be noted. A few years
ago, Mrs. H. H. Stoddard visited Mexico and
gave illustrated temperance addresses in many of
the principal cities, and organized temperance so-
cieties. She was also accorded a hearing in gov-
ernment schools, and the press of the country
commented favorably on her efforts. The W. C.
T. U. now has a resident missionary in Mexico,
and there are a number of native temperance so-
cieties. If, however, the large Protestant com-
munity of the United States must still wage con-
tinual warfare against drunkenness, and with
only partial success, it is not to be expected that
the handful of Protestants in Latin America will
as yet accomplish very much. A beginning has
been made, and for the results thus far we are
grateful, and see many reasons for encourage-
ment.

We come, in the second place, to the influence
of Protestantism on the family. It is sometimes
said by Anglo-Saxon travellers that there are no
homes in Latin America. This is not true. There
are homes, and, in the aggregate, a great many of
them, in which parents and children, husband and
wife, are bound together by the tenderest of ties ;
but the dangers to home life are perhaps greater ;
and the proportion of men who are unfaithful,
and of children who are precocious in vice, is
greater.

a66 Needs of Latin America

The upper and middle classes have the social
code of Europe, and woman in social life is al-
ways treated with elaborate courtesy; France
being taken as a model. The manners of polite
society are as cultivated as anywhere in Christen-
dom. Even among the Indians elaborate cere-
mony and courteous hospitality is everywhere to
be found. There is also, in many homes, a deep
affection between parents and children, which it
is beautiful to see. Differences in the matter of
family discipline are found there as here. Chil-
dren are trained to be very polite on occasion, but
obedience is not insisted on as a rule; and pre-
varication— not to use a shorter word — is not
sufficiently punished.

While husbands love their wives and provide
for them, it is commonly reported, and seldom or
never denied, that one or more mistresses may be
added, if only they are kept decently out of sight.
Not actions, but appearances, are the test. To
concubinage of this kind all eyes are discreetly
closed, save for an occasional reprimand in the
newspapers. Great regard is paid to appearances,
and rarely is anything seen to shock the sensibili-
ties among those who are fairly well educated.
The men of the lowest class, and the women also,
use vile language in conversation ; and these men
often make indecent remarks to women of the
serving class as they pass them on the street.

There is also a custom among the educated,
wealthy young men, denounced from time to time

The Present Problem 267

in the daily journals, or by indignant travellers,
but still tolerated. The gilded youth of the cities
line up on both edges of the sidewalk, before their
clubs, or in front of stores patronized by women
of fashion, and stare at the women in a way which
ought to make their blood tingle with shame, es-
pecially if they overhear the bold comments on
their physical charms of face and body. Why
don't the women put a stop to it?

Many, perhaps most, priests ; especially in their
youthful days, do not keep their vows of chastity.
Some are flagrantly immoral, others live with
some one woman who is a wife in all but the
marriage ceremony. Pope Leo in an encyclical
letter addressed to the clergy of Chile, in 1897,
says : "In every diocese ecclesiastics break all
bounds and deliver themselves up to manifold
forms of sensuality, and no voice is lifted up to
imperiously summon pastors to their duties." *

The marriage rite is often more honored in the
breach than in the observance. From Colombia
comes the following statement : " The marriage
laws, and the state of morals induced by the
nearly universal disregard of the same, are the
greatest hindrance to the evangelization of the
people of Colombia. There can be no really
binding marriage covenant except it be celebrated
by. a priest of Rome, who usually demands a fee
beyond the power of the masses to pay. Even

1 Protestant Missions in South America, p. 205.

268 Needs of Latin America

civil contracts of marriage are made null and void
on certain easy conditions. As a consequence,
polygamy, without the sanction of even Moslem
law, is more common than in Moslem lands." 1

The same is true in all the Latin American
republics. The repeated conflicts between Church
and State over the question of civil and religious
marriage have not helped the matter. In Mexico,
for example, the government recognizes only the
civil contract entered into before a civil magis-
trate. The church ceremony is often performed
afterwards but has no legal value. The Church
does not admit the validity of a merely civil
marriage. In any case it costs something to get
married; for, although the civil ceremony is said
to be free, the nominal cost of a dollar or so bars
out many of the very poor, and the petty delays
and annoyances to which the peon is subjected,
together with an uneducated moral sense, lead
him to dispense with the ceremony altogether.
As divorce, with right to remarry is not yet
granted in Mexico, as in some other of these
countries, even on Scriptural grounds, many are
found in second unions which have no legal sanc-
tion.

These facts explain, in part, the very high per-
centages of illegitimate births, which reach thirty,
fifty, and even seventy-five per cent; as in Ecua-
dor. It is often necessary before receiving a

1 Historical Sketch of Presbyterian Missions, p. 339.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ''SAN AUGUSTIN" ZACATECAS

The Present Problem 269

couple into our Protestant communion, although
they may have been living together for many
years as husband and wife, and have a large
family, to insist that they be married according
to the law of the land, and then afterwards by
the Church if they so desire. Our firm stand in
this matter is well known, and is not without its
influence on the popular conscience. Protestant-
ism refuses to wink at impurity ; and our Church
members are held to a high standard of family life.

The right of woman to earn her own living,
without exposing herself to insult and infamy, is
closely related to this question. This right is be-
coming better recognized, and more avenues are
now opened to her. Curiously enough, in Chile,
the street car conductors are women; and in
Santiago they once had a successful strike ; for all
the women of the town sustained them, and what
could the men do but yield as gracefully as pos-
sible?

Of humanitarian and philanthropic movements
there is little to be said. The civilized Roman
Catholic communities already have hospitals and
asylums, many of which are large, and well en-
dowed institutions. Where the population is
almost wholly Indian, little or nothing has been
done. Aside from a few medical missions such
as that of the Methodists, in Guanajuato, that of
the Seventh Day Adventists, in Guadalajara, and
a few orphanages, Protestant workers have not
added to the charitable institutions. But six

270 Needs of Latin America

medical missionaries are reported for all South
America. It has seemed best, as a rule, to leave
medical work in the hands of the native physi-
cians.

The higher life of society, is Dr. Dennis's fourth
division. All the agencies employed by Protes-
tantism to elevate the individual and the family,
tend to develop the higher life of society. It re-
mains, therefore, only to state what Protestant-
ism is doing for the secular and religious instruc-
tion of the people.

We must be careful to give the different gov-
ernments full credit for what they are doing in
this same direction. A graded system of public
schools, from the primary to the professional, is
being set up everywhere; and while it all looks
better on paper than in actual operation, and many
of the methods are criticized by modern Amer-
ican instructors, there are some fine institutions.
Their graduates, and those who study abroad,
form the educated class. As already described,
in a previous lecture, all the missions have day
and boarding schools, and institutions for higher
education. The efforts of Protestantism in this
direction have acted as a stimulus both to the
Roman Catholic Church and to the different gov-
ernment schools.

We come, in the fifth place, to the influences
which affect national life and character.

In describing the liberal party, we spoke of the
recognition by its leaders of Protestant work.

The Present Problem 271

In Chile, Dr. Trumbull had a direct influence in
the shaping of certain laws. In 1888, the Chilian
government granted our Presbyterian mission a
charter whereby " those who profess the Re-
formed church religion, according to the doctrines
of Holy Scripture, may promote primary and
superior instruction, according to modern methods
and practices, and propagate the worship of their
belief obedient to the laws of the land ; " and,
" this corporation may acquire lands and build-
ings necessary for the expressed object, and re-
tain the same by act of the legislature." It is
added that " this special charter was one of sev-
eral important steps taken by the government in
the direction of religious liberty, and renders
the tenure of property more secure than for-
merly." 1

No one can attend our Protestant gatherings,
and hear the stirring speeches on national holi-
days, and not see that Protestants are among
the truest patriots in Latin America. They ad-
vocate the separation of Church and State, and
full religious liberty. Their voice is everywhere
heard, and it helps to educate public opinion.

Sixth, trade and commerce.

These are not appreciably affected by our mis-
sion work. Much is accomplished indirectly by
fuller, freer trade relations with England, Ger-
many and the United States. The railroads built

1 Historical Sketch Presbyterian Missions, p. 331.

272 Needs of Latin America

by English and American capitalists and engi-
neers, are rapidly changing the regions thus
entered. We already witness the first influx of
immigrants and of foreign capital. It is true that
many of the new colonists are from Italy and
other papal countries ; but many are also Protes-
tants. The Protestant communities thus founded
are more eager for modern means of transit and
other improvements than are the Roman Catho-
lics.

This brings us to the last point: The results
of missionary effort connected with religious faith
and practice.

The influence of Protestantism is of three
kinds. The first is a general influence on the
whole community. This influence is restraining
and constraining in character. It helped to create,
for example, the public sentiment which de-
nounced the attack on a Protestant family in
Irapuato, to which reference has already been
made. The lesson was learned even in an In-
dian village which I visited shortly after the riot.
The Roman Catholic town president told me,
with a laugh, that he was very careful how he
treated our Protestant teacher, lest he be dealt
with as were the authorities of Irapuato. This
was in Almoloya where Mr. Gomez was killed
sixteen years ago. The influence of the stand
taken at Ahuacatitlan was felt all over the state
of Guerrero. This influence on public opinion is
very great, but, from the nature of the case, it

The Present Problem 1273

is difficult to express in words. It must be felt
to be fully understood.

The second influence is on the Roman Catholic
Church. The great Reformation in Europe gave
rise to a counter reformation in the papal Church.
There are signs of a similar attempt at reforma-
tion in the Latin American Churches. How far
it will go, and how radical it will be, it is unsafe
to predict. Many outward abuses will be done
away with. Old time superstitions and idola-
trous practices have already begun to flee from
modern ridicule and criticism. The Day of the
Dead has lost much of its picturesqueness in
Mexico. The Passion Play has been forbidden
by the Archbishop of Mexico, on the ground that
it has outlived its usefulness. The church in Latin
America will become more like her sister com-
munion in the United States, which will be a
great gain over the present condition of arTairs.

The third influence of evangelical Christianity
is clear and positive. It is seen in the changed
lives of our converts. In more than one Indian
village you can pick out the boy or girl who has
studied in our schools; and the members of our
churches have brighter faces. They are no longer
idolaters. I use that word advisedly, for I have
talked with many individuals and asked them:
Did you worship the image or the saint repre-
sented by the image? They answer that they
can see now that they were real idolaters, for
while they knew about the particular saint thus

274 Needs of Latin America

represented, it was the specific image of a specific
shrine through which they expected to get the
blessing asked for. The image did the work.

I well remember one consecrated woman tell-
ing me, as we stood before her ranch home in the
hotlands, how she had burned and buried her idols
and now worshipped God alone. She would not
give them to us as curiosities, she preferred
utterly to destroy them, to stamp them to powder
and thus break utterly with her idolatrous past.

Let me name again the steps in our progress.
What would the United States be without our
English Bible and our long training in its pre-
cepts? Latin America would still have no Bible
in the language of the people, but for the Protes-
tant worker. Now the Bible can be found every-
where, and is distributed annually by thousands
of copies.

Our Protestant converts are the only persons
who fittingly observe the Lord's Day and strive
to keep it holy. Latin America, under Roman-
ism, has never had a Christian Sabbath. Take
away the Protestant worker and you take away
Sunday schools, and Young People's Societies,
and similar work in behalf of the young. Our
gospel hymns will be unheard. No voice will be
raised for temperance. You take away, in a word,
the only really spiritual, uplifting influence at
work to-day among the millions of this broad
heritage. If we believe in the Protestant Refor-
mation in Europe, we must believe in the Protes-

The Present Problem 275

tant Reformation of to-day in Latin America.
America for Christ! That means all America;
and on American Christians rests the burden of
the work.

This brings us naturally to the second element
in our problem; how to build up a self-support-
ing, self-propagating native church.

It is proper and natural for you to ask us who
labor on the field, how soon may we expect to see
self-supporting Protestant churches in Latin
America ? When will there be no further need of
contributions from the churches of the United
States?

These questions are difficult to answer. A
beginning has been made. Each mission has an
ecclesiastical organization in accord with the
standards and form of government of its Church.
For example, the Methodists hold annual con-
ferences, presided over by bishops sent from the
United States. Many of the presiding elders are
natives, and they have a regular system of native
contributions for a number of objects, including
pastoral support. The total thus raised makes a
very respectable amount. Our Presbyterian mis-
sions are in various stages of advance. In Vene-
zuela and Colombia there are only individual
churches and the mission; but Chile has a Pres-
bytery. In Mexico one mission has three Presby-
teries ; the Southern Presbyterians have one ; and
the Associated Reformed mission has one; mak-

276 Needs of Latin America

ing five in all ; and steps have been taken toward
the organization of a Synod in July of this year
(1901). This will give us an independent Pres-
byterian Church in Mexico.

In Brazil this step has already been taken. In
1888, the Northern and Southern Presbyterians,
divided into four Presbyteries, united to form the
Synod of Brazil, which is independent of the
Presbyterian churches in the United States, and
is a member of the Pan-Presbyterian Alliance. In
1897, there were reported 76 organized churches,
of which 36 were entirely self-supporting, while
the rest received greater or less help from the
Boards of Foreign Missions. There were 23
ordained Brazilian ministers, 3 licentiates, and
5,437 church members. The native contributions
reached 226,709 milreis. This is really a splendid
showing. The problem has been solved in Brazil
so far as those 36 self-supporting churches are
concerned; and the other churches give some-
thing and are working toward entire self-support.

Some of the churches in Chile are partially
self-supporting. " The Methodist Mission, which
was begun in 1878, has been conducted on the
plan of self-support from the beginning, the mis-
sionaries getting their entire support on the field,
and it is one of the most prosperous missions on
the continent " of South America.1

In Mexico we have a plan of self-support

1 Protestant Missions in South America, p. 137.

The Present Problem 277

under which many of our churches pay forty
per cent, of their pastor's salary and all inci-
dental expenses; and, the percentage they give
increases annually. The church in Mexico City
has promised to begin entire self-support in
January, 1901, and enter thus upon the 2Oth cen-
tury. This is in view of the fact that the Chris-
tian Endeavor Society connected with that church
raised $1,263 during the year 1900; of which
amount $1,050 was given to our Mexican Home
Mission Board, which has three evangelists and
two teachers working in an extensive country
field among the mountains of Guerrero and in the
State of Mexico.

All this shows that the native churches can
have their own ecclesiastical organizations; do
have them, in fact; and that they can bear the
burden of their own preaching services, of their
local day schools for little children, and other in-
cidental expenses. Experience is teaching the mis-
sions that in opening new work a proper method
will educate the groups of believers in self-sup-
port from the very outset. Let the company of
believers worship in their own homes until they
so desire a house of worship that they will build
it themselves. This has been done. Only lately
in Zacualpan, under our Mexican Home Mission
Board, the people gave the land and raised the
money, with some special gifts from other native
churches. The congregation of Merida built a
church costing between three and four thousand

ay 8 Needs of Latin America

dollars, and raised the money themselves. In
Mexico City the congregation pays the rent of
two halls for preaching services.

As to the services, let the most intelligent mem-
bers of the group of believers conduct them in
turn. This has been done especially in Mr.
Campbell's field, and in the Mexico City ward
congregations. This is the apostolic plan. If the
men are suitable, Paul's method can be carried a
step further, and elders can be ordained in the
churches. We have done this also. Forms of
worship, expositions of Scripture passages and
sermons have been printed, and these, together
with the help and instruction given by the mis-
sionary or native evangelist, make it possible to
hold services of an acceptable character. The
congregation also knows that, as soon as it feels
able to raise the money, it can have a regular paid
pastor, either one already ordained, or a student
from our Theological Seminary. This plan also,
is already in successful operation. If all the mis-
sions will agree on this plan or one similar, and
adhere to it, the problem of self-support will
solve itself, and growth be made in a natural
way.

The people who could support the costly wor-
ship of the Roman Catholic Church, who made
the sacrifices made for it, when once they love the
Lord Jesus Christ will gladly do as much or
more for love of Him. They can and will meet
the expenses of our simpler, Protestant worship.

The Present Problem 279

Lack of experience, hope for speedier results,
and a desire to avoid any appearance of exactions
like those of Rome, led in the early days, to ex-
penditures which took the work out of native
hands. In places where the missions had for
years met all the expenses, the people still ex-
pected them to do so, especially as they were
commonly credited with the possession of un-
limited funds. Why, they argue, should a poor
man make sacrifices to do what the wealthy mis-
sion can do so easily?

Still there are cases where the very moderate
salaries paid are often more than one congrega-
tion can defray. The remedy which suggests it-
self is to group the congregations, or ask them to
hold their own services without a paid pastor
until they can meet the expense. This has been
done in some cases. Kindness and tact are neces-
sary in effecting these changes. The spirit of
self-sacrifice, and the patriotism of the native
Christians, will prove equal to the task, and
self-support and self-propagation will be achieved.
Much will depend on the missionaries and the na-
tive men who take the places of Paul and his fel-
low workers. We need more such men as Mr.
Morales, who has educated his elders so that they
too hold services; and three of his workers are
now missionaries of our Mexican Home Mission
Board.

Encouraging as all this is, it does not mean
that there will be no further need for mission

Needs of Latin America

effort. For many years to come missionaries and
native evangelists, paid by the Board, will be
needed to look after the work already established,
and to enter new fields. It will also be necessary
for the churches in the United States to sustain
our presses, our Protestant literature, and our
Tract and Bible Societies. Higher education will
also demand large contributions. We need well
equipped and suitably endowed Normal schools,
Colleges and Theological Seminaries ; and educa-
tional work is not strictly self-supporting even
in the United States. It will not be so on the
mission field, although the amount to be received
from tuitions will steadily increase. All these
agencies will call for as large an outlay as the
home churches are likely to make. It is impos-
sible to say for how many years this work will
call for foreign help.

This, then, is the development and this the need
of Latin America as I see it. First, a whole
hemisphere lying in pagan ignorance and idol-
atry; then the conversion to Roman Catholicism
of more than half of this vast area, giving the
people some knowledge of God and Jesus Christ,
but all marred by mariolatry and the idolatrous
worship of the saints and degenerating, under
the influence of wealth and power, into gross
superstition and corruption. Then the patriots
opened the door of religious liberty and the Prot-

The Present Problem 281

estants entered with the open Bible which tells of
Jesus Christ, the only Mediator and Saviour.

We have begun our work at the right time,
when fuller, freer intercourse with the outside
world, the construction of railroads, the develop-
ment of natural resources, the establishment of
schools, and the larger use of the press, together
with a growing immigration, make this a period
of transition from America's dark ages to the
light of modern civilization.

As we stand thus upon the threshold of the
new era, we lift our eyes and look forward into
the future. At the risk of mistaken calculations,
we venture a few forecasts of what that future is
to be. The Indians will be converted and ab-
sorbed by inter-marriage with the white or mixed
race, as has happened in the past ; or, if unwilling
to change their mode of life, they will prove un-
equal to the new struggle for existence and will
disappear. An enlightened mixed race, the typi-
cal Latin American, will be the dominant element
in social and political life. The Spanish and
Portuguese language will everywhere be spoken ;
and, with it, will go the instincts and traditions
of Iberian civilization. Immigrants will flow in
from all sides. The Spanish, Portuguese, French
and Italian elements in the new population will be
likely to remain Roman Catholic, and will easily
fit into life as they find it in Latin America. The
Anglo-Saxons and the Germans will bring, as a

282 Needs of Latin America

rule, Protestant traditions; and, if true to their
mission, will help the cause of Protestantism.
Unless they enter in immense numbers, they too
will learn the language of the country, and their
descendants become typical Latin Americans. The
power to assimilate, owing to climate and other
conditions, is as great as in the United States.
Now is the time to infuse evangelical thought and
ideals into this mixed national life.

This part of our western hemisphere is bound
to grow in wealth and population till more nearly
equal to the Anglo-Saxon half of our continent.
Napoleon III. and Pius IX., with a long look
ahead, tried to set up in Mexico a Roman Catholic
monarchy which should hold the balance of power
in the New World ; weld the Latin nations into a
unit; and hold back the United States. They
failed, and to-day the influence of Protestant
America is supreme; but it will be equally great
in the future only if true to the mission given our
people to carry the gospel to all the world. In
our great missionary enterprise, let us not forget
that portion of the western hemisphere lying to
the southward of our own beloved land.

Friends, I thank you for the kindness which
has permitted me thus to present the religious
need of Latin America, and make my plea to you
on her behalf. By the sacrifices of her patriots,
made to win religious liberty; by the blood of
her martyrs, who died preaching the truth as it
is in Christ ; by the work of all our native Protes-

The Present Problem 283

tants ; by the expenditures already made in men
and money; by my belief in the future that
awaits Latin America, " immense as her moun-
tains and her seas, brilliant as her skies and her
resplendent stars;" I appeal to you, in obedience
to the divine command, to win Latin America for
Christ. I see here the grandest opportunity for
mission work offered the churches of America.
It means all America, our whole continent, for
Christ ; the complete victory of evangelical Chris-
tianity in this struggle of the centuries since its
discovery ; a continent to be saved that it may be
used in the conversion of the Old World of the
Orient from its debasing heathenism. May our
American Christians prove equal to the task:

" For right is right, since God is God ;

And right the day must win;
To doubt would be disloyalty,
To falter would be sin."

BOOKS OF REFERENCE

Abbott. Mexico and the United States. 1869.

Agassiz, L. A Journey in Brazil. 1868.

Andrews, C. C. Brazil, Its Conditions and Pros-
pects. 1891.

Appleton's Guide to Mexico. Latest edition.

Ballou, M. M. Aztec Land. 1890.

Bancroft, H. H. Popular History of Mexican
People.

Bancroft, H. H. Native Races. Mexico and
Central America.

Bandelier, A. F. Mexico.

Bates, H. W. The Naturalist on the Amazon.
1863.

Bates, H. W. Central America, the West Indies
and South America. 1885.

Bishop, N. H. The Pampas and Andes. 1883.

Bishop, W. H. Old Mexico and her Lost Prov-
inces.

Boyd, R. N. Chili and the Chilians.

Brand. Journal of a Voyage to Peru. 1828.

Brigham, W. T. Guatemala.

Brocklehurst, T. N. Mexico To-day. 1883.

Brown, R. Races of Mankind.

Butler, J. W. Sketches of Mexico. 1894.

Butler, W. Mexico in Transition. 1892.

a86 Books of Reference

Butterworth, H. Over the Andes. 1897.
Butterworth, H. Spanish America.
Caldcleugh. Travels in South America. 1825.
Calderon de la Basca, Madame. Life in Mexico.

1843-
Child, T. The Spanish American Republics.

1891.
Clemens, E. J. M. La Plata Countries of South

America. 1886.

Coan, T. Adventures in Patagonia. 1880.
Condamine. Travels in South America, in Pink-

erton's Voyages.
Condor. The Modern Traveller. Volumes on

South American Countries and Mexico. 1829.
Crawford, R. South American Sketches. 1898.
Curtis, W. E. Capitals of Spanish America.

1888.

Darwin, C. A Naturalist's Voyage. 1886.
Despard, G. F. Hope Deferred not Lost; Mis-
sions to Patagonia.
Ecumenical Missionary Conference, New York,

1900.
Fletcher, J. C. and D. P. Kidder. Brazil and the

Brazilians. 1866.

Ford, I. N. Tropical America. 1893.
Graham, M. Residence in Chile. 1824.
Gooch, F. C. Face to Face with the Mexicans.
Haight. Sketches of Buenos Ayres and Chile.

1829.

Hale, S. Story of Mexico.
Hall, B. Journal. 1824.

Books of Reference 287

Head. Rough Notes. 1828.

Holton, I. F. New Granada.

Humboldt, A. von. Researches. 1814.

Humboldt, A. von. Personal Narrative. 1826.

Humphrey, A. R. A Summer Journey in Brazil.
1900.

Janvier, T. Mexican Guide. Last edition.

John, I. G. Handbook of Methodist Missions
(South). 1893.

Johnson, H. M. About Mexico, Past and Pres-
ent.

Mansfield, C. B. Paraguay, Brazil and the Plata.

Markham, C. R. Travels in Peru and India.
1862.

Marsh, J. W. Story of Commander Allen Gardi-
ner.

Mathison. Visit to Brazil, Chile and Peru. 1825.

Mau. Journal of a Passage from the Pacific to
the Atlantic. 1829.

Mier. Travels in Chile and La Plata. 1826.

Millard, E. C. and L. E. Guinness. South Amer-
ica, the Neglected Continent. 1894.

Miller. Memoirs of General Miller. 1829.

Mulhall, M. G. and E. T. Handbook of the
River Plata. 1892.

Myers, S. A. Self-sacrifice, or the Pioneers of
Fuegia. 1861.

Noll. History of Mexico.

Ober, F. A. Travels in Mexico.

Olsson, E. The Dark Continent at our Doors.
1899.

288 Books of Reference

Olsson, E. South America, the Dark Continent.
1900.

Page, T. J. La Plata, the Argentine Confedera-
tion and Paraguay. 1859.

Parish. History of Buenos Ayres.

Presbyterian Mission, Historical Sketches of.
1897.

Prescott, W. H. The Conquest of Mexico.

Prescott, W. H. The Conquest of Peru.

Rankin, M. Twenty Years in Mexico.

Rays of Sunlight in Darkest South America.

Reclus, E. The Earth and Its Inhabitants.
North America and South America. 1894-95

Reid, J. M. and J. T. Gracey. Methodist Epis-
copal Missions. 1895.

Reville, R. Native Religions of Mexico and
Peru. 1884.

Ridpath, J. C. Great Races of Mankind. 1893.

Romero, Matias. Mexico and the United States.

Schmidtmeyer. Travels into Chile. 1825.

Smith, E. R. The Araucanians.

Southey, R. History of Brazil. 1822.

Squier, E. G. States of Central America.

Stephens, J. L. Incidents of Travel in Central
America.

Stevenson. Twenty Years' Residence in South
America. 1825.

Taylor, W. Our South American Cousins. 1878.

Thompson, W. Recollections of Mexico. 1846.

Thompson, R. W. British Foreign Missions.
1899.

Books of Reference 289

Thomson, J. Letters on South America. 1827.
Ulloa. Voyage to South America, in Pinkerton's

Travels.

Vincent, F. In and Out of Central America.
Vincent, F. Around and About South America.
Wallace, A. R. Travels on the Amazon and the

Rio NegrO. 1853.

Wilson, R. A. Mexico and Its Religions.
Young. From Cape Horn to Panama. 1900.

Consult also the Handbooks of the Bureau of
American Republics, Encyclopedias, Indexes to
periodicals and the Missionary Reviews and An-
nual Reports of the various Societies at work in
Latin America. There are also numerous works
in Spanish, Portuguese and other languages. See
lists of books in " Protestant Missions " in South
America, pp. 216-223 J " Historical Sketches of
Presbyterian Missions," pp. 193, 202 and 342, and
similar lists in other mission publications.

INDEX

Abbott, Christianity pagan-
ized, 61.
Abel, City of, in Yucatan,

23-

Aborigines, see Indians.

Acapulco, massacre of
protestants, 226, 247.

Acatlan, Santa Cruz de,
picture of chastisement
of Cortes by monks, 96.

Agencies, for distribution
of Bible in Latin Amer-
ica, 195.

Aguardiente, intoxicating
drink, 262.

Aguas Calientes, centre of
work of Cumberland
Presbyterians in Mexico,
219.

Aguas, Padre, controver-
sial writer, 202.

Aguilas, Jerome oft at
Cozumel, 38.

Ahuacatitlan, massacre of
protestants in, 248, 272.

Ahualulco, massacre of
protestants in, 249.

Alexander VI., grant of
pagan world to Spain and
Portugal, 71.

Almeida, saint of Brazil,
biographical notes, 115.

Allende, general in Mexi-
can war of independence,

143-

Alliance of Latin American
republics, proposed, 127.

Almoloya del Rio, attack
on protestants, 248, 272.

Alva, duke of, Maximil-
ian's hero, 167.

Altamirano, Ignacio, liter-
ary Mexican of Indian
descent, 51.

Amecameca, sacred shrine
of Mexico, 25.

America, brief descriptive
survey of the continent,
13. .

America, Central, ancient
Indian empires, 21, 29.
See Guatemala, and Hon-
duras.

America, South, desire to
awaken religious interest
in, 7; native tribes, 18;
civilized ancient races,
21 ; ancient Indian em-
pires, 29; number of In-
dians and their religious
destitution, 53-57. See
also the various republics
of S. A. under their re-
respective names.

American Bible Society,
144. See Bible Societies.

American Board of C. F.
M., 219. See Congrega-
tionalists.

Americans, of U. S., feel-
ing toward, in Latin
America, 250, 281.

American Tract Society,
200 ct seq.

291

292

Index

Anchieta, Apostle of Bra-
zil, 114; executes Boileau,
the Huguenot, 178.

Andes, crossed by San
Martin, 138; by Bolivar,
140.

Andradas, Brazilian pa-
triots, 131.

Anglo-Saxons, territory
occupied by them in
America, 16; How re-
garded in Latin America,
250, 281.

Apizaco, murder of prot-
estant preacher, 248.

Aranda, plan for political
reorganization of Spain's
American colonies, 127.

Araucana, La, Epic of Er-
cilla, on cruelty of Span-
iards to Indians, 69.

Araucanians, of Chile,
never conquered, 19.

Archbishop of Mexico, on
toleration toward prot-
estants, 260.

Arellano, Plutarco, 226.

Argentina. Political in-
dependence, 137; mission
work, 183. See Buenos
Ayres.

Associate Reformed Pres-
byterian Church in Mex-
ico, 219, 275 ; comity, 229.

Asuncion, Virgen de la,
Festival in La Paz, Bo-
livia, 241.

Atotonilco, paintings taken
from shrine of, by Hi-
dalgo, for banner, 143.

Atzala, massacre of prot-
estants in, 260.

Augurs, of the Aztecs, 41.

Auto de fe, in Mexico City,
described by an eye-wit-
ness, in.

Ayacucho, victory of in
war of independence, 141.

Azores, 71.

Aztecs, 24; empire of, 29,
cruelty to sacrificed, 30;
priests, 39 ;\ destruction
of their temples, 81.

Babel, Cholula, the tower
of, 23, 49-

Bahia, revolution in, 131;
occupied by the Dutch,
179; visit of Henry Mar-
tyn, 180.

Balance of power in Amer-
ica, 282.

Balboa, discovery of the
Pacific, 63.

Bancroft, H. H.,— Wash-
ings of newborn Aztec
child, 41.

Bandelier, on the Indians
of South America, 242.

Banner, of Cortes, 72; of
San Martin, 138.

Baptisms, of Aztec chil-
dren, 41 ; irregularities in
administration of R. C.
rite by missionaries, 100.

Baptists, 219.

Barrios, Pres. of Guate-
mala, reforms of, 257.

Beltran, with San Martin,
138.

Beza, favored Hugenot
Colony in Brazil, 178.

Bible, desire for, in Latin
America, 190; ignorance
of, 190; statistics of dis-
tribution, 194

Bible Societies, one organ-
ized in Bogota, 187, in
other points, 188, statis-
tics, 194; agencies, 195;
persecution of agents,
197-

Index

Blackford, on R. C. Church
in Brazil, 117, as mission-
ary, 222.

Boards of missions, how
long their help will be
needed, 280.

Bogota, 130, 218. See Col-
ombia and New Gra-
nada.

Boil, first apostolic vicar to
new world, 64.

Boileau, Jean, Huguenot
executed in Brazil, 178.

Bolivar, Simon, his belief
that no religion be pre-
scribed in state Constitu-
tion, 125, 142, his work
137. 139 : biographical
items, 140 ; death, 141 ;
abnegation, 142 ; on pub-
lic schools, 188.

Bolivia, 141, 225, 241, 249.

Books, list of protestant
works in Portuguese and
Spanish, 204.

Brazil, Indians of, 53-55;
discovery, 63, 66; Jesuits
of> 100: power and cor-
ruption of R. C. Church,
103, 117, 118; feasts, 103;
popular saints of, 114-
117; political independ-
ence achieved, 130-132;
religious liberty, 132, 133 ;
articles of the constitu-
tion on religious liberty,
133 ; advances made, 133 ;
Huguenots in, 177 ; Dutch
in, 179; Bible in, 190;
missions, protestant, 177-
180, 190-193, 196-231 ;
Synod of Brazil, 276.

Brigham, visit to Latin
America, and opinions,
183, 246.

British and Foreign Bible

Society, 194, 218.. Sec
Bible Societies.

British and Foreign School
Society. See Lancaste-
rian Schools.

Browning, Clara, 213. t

Buenos Ayres, 66; inde-
pendence, 130; Lancaste-
rian Schools, 188; San
Martin of, 137.

Bull-fights, at time of relig-
ious feasts, in viceregal
days, 103.

Bull, of Paul III. in de-
fence of the Indians as
rational beings, 70; of
Alexander VI., dividing
the world, 71.

Bustamante, publisher of
Sahagun's works, 91.

Butler, E. C., statistics on
drunkenness in Mexico,
263.

Butler, J. W., on Atzala
massacre, 249.

Butler, W., enthusiasm
over patriot struggle in
Mexico, 8 ; on Mexico in
Transition, 197, 259, etc.

Butterworth, H., on strug-
gle for liberty in South
America, 8, 138, etc.

Cadiz, Junta, desire to con-
trol Spanish colonies, 129.

Cain, city of in Yucatan, 23.

Cajamarca, Colombia, work
of R. C. missionary,
Mateo, 94.

Calderon de la Barca, Ma-
dame, descriptions of R.
C. Mexico, 118.

California, 68; Jesuits in,
I op; visit of protestant
missionary from Sand-
wich Islands, 182.

294

Index

Callao, 139.

Calvary, figure used in de-
scribing Mexican strug-
gle for independence, 168.

Calvin, favored Huguenot
missions in Brazil, 178.

Campbell, C. C, protestant
missionary, 196, 226, 278.

Campanas, hill of, where
Maximilian executed, 170.

Cannibalism, of Indians, as
a religious rite, 19.

Captaincies of Spain in
New World, 134.

Capulhuac, Nicanor Gomez
of, killed, 248.

Carabobo, victory of, its
importance, 141.

Caracas, declaration of in-
dependence, 130; Lancas-
terian schools, 188.

Catechisms, R. C. in Mex-
ico, 98.

Celaya, attack on protest-
ants, 248.

Cempoalla, use of force to
set up R. C. worship, 70.

Central America, see
America, Central, Guate-
mala and Honduras.

Chalchihuitlicue, now

shrine of the Virgin of
the Remedies, 41, 99.

Chamberlain, Dr., mission-
ary in Brazil, 214.

Charles III., plan of Ar-
anda, 127.

Charles IV. unpopularity
in Latin America, 129.

Chayero, Alfredo, on Aztec
priesthood, 40 ; symbol-
ism of Quetzalcoatl, 36.

Cherentes, of Brazil, mis-
sion work among, 54.

Chicha, a South American
drink, 262.

Chilan Cambal, his fraudu-
lent prophecy, 38.

Children, kill pagan priest
at Tlascala, 81.

Chile, Araucanians in, 19,
69, 130; religious strug-
gle, 172; Brigham's visit,
184; Bible, 190; protest-
ant college, 212 ; immor-
ality of R. C. Clergy,
267; Trumbull and laws
in reference to protest-
ants, 271 ; self support of
protestant missions, 276.

Chimalma, 34.

China, influence on primi-
tive America, 23.

Cholula, tower of Babel,
23, 49-

Christian Endeavor Socie-
ties, 229, 274. 277.

Christian rites, resem-
blances to, in pagan wor-
ship of America, 23.

Cihuacoatl, 30.

Cisneros, Cardinal, ordered
ships to carry mission-
aries, 64.

Civilized races, 21-48; see
Aztecs and Peruvians.

Class distinctions in Latin
America, 134, 1.51.

Clavijero, on cruelty of
Spaniards to Indians, 68.

Coatepec, 32.

Coatlicue, 32.

Coca, drug used by Indians
of Andes, 262.

Cochrane, Lord, takes San
Martin's army by sea to
Peru, 139.

Coligny, Admiral, and Hu-
guenot colony of Brazil,
177.

Colleges, protestant in
Latin America, 212; In-

Index

295

stituto, Chile, 212; Mac-
kenzie, Brazil, 213; Co-
yoacan, 215

Colombia, work of R. C.
missionaries, 94, 126; re-
ligious struggle, 172, 218,
249 ; marriage in, 267.

Colombians sent to London
by Bolivar to study
school system, 188.

Colonies of Latin America,
degree of isolation, 127;
class distinctions in, 134.

Colonists of Latin America
help the R. C. mission-
aries, 70.

Colonization of Latin
America, rapidity of, 62.

Colporteurs, Bible, tribute
to them, 199.

Columbus, 63; interest in
conversion of the Indi-
ans, 71 ; at San Salvador,
72.

Comity, between protestant
missions, 228.

Commerce, restrictions in
the Spanish colonies,
135-

Compromises of Romanism
with paganism, 239.

Concepcion, early bishop-
ric, 65.

Condor, on injustice to In-
dians, 136.

Confederation of protestant
societies in Mexico, 229.

Congregationalists, mis-
sions in Mexico, 219.

Conquerors, their motives,
68; aid R. C. mission-
aries, 70.

Conventions, annual, of
protestants, 229.

Convent schools of Aztecs,
42.

Cooke, W. A., on the Che-
rentes, 54.

Cooper's novels, an ideal
picture of the Indians, 18.

Copocobana, 25 ; feast of,
1 06.

Cordoba, R. C. missionary
in South America, 65.

Coricancha, temple of the
sun, Cuzco, 27.

Cortes, Hernan, writings,
24, 64; instructions to,
72; his banner, 72; use
of violence to convert In-
dians, 78; chastised by
monks before Indians,
95; on restrictions upon'
monks, 150; will of, ex-
press desire for a college
in Coyoacan, 216; use of
the sword, 238.

Cortes, Spanish, offers rep-
resentation to American
colonies of Spain, 129.

Coyoacan, passion play in,
106 ; protestant college,
216.

Cozumel, cross of, 38; vio-
lent conversion of In-
dians, 78.

Graver, on attitude toward
United States in Uru-
guay, 253.

Creoles, treatment by
Spain, 135.

Cross, pagan, symbolism in
America, 37, 38 ; of Cozu-
mel, not pagan but R. C.,
38.

Crusaders, Spanish con-
querors so regarded
themselves, 70.

Cuauhtemoc, conversion of,

74-

Cuautla, siege of, 144.
Cuba, 64, 126, 134, 144, 250.

296

Index

Cumberland Presbyterians

in Mexico, 219.
Curityba, protestant school

in, 212.
Curtin, J., on religious life

of the Indians, 20.
Curtis, W. E., quotations

from, on Ecuador, 118;

on feasts, 241, 252, etc.
Cuzco, Inca capital, 25;

erection of R. C. temples

and convents on old sites,

86.

Daehne, C., Moravian mis-
sionary in Guiana, 181.
Darien, early bishopric of,

63-

Day of the Dead, 273.

Dascomb, protestant mis-
sionary teacher, 212.

Defensa Catolica, on perse-
cution of protestants, 247.

Demetrius, his imitators in
R. C. America, 104.

Dennis, statistics, 200, 209;
on influences of protest-
antism, 261.

Devil, caused resemblances
to Christian rites among
pagans, 24.

Diaz, Bernal, his intrigues,
24.

Diaz, Pres. Porfirio, of
Mexico, 173, 248, 255,
256, 259, 260.

Diaz, P. C., protestant

preacher, 226, 247.
Dominicans, 64, 66,

69, 87,

etc.

Domenech, on immorality
of R. C. clergy, 240.

Druids, influence on primi-
tive America, 23.

Dutch, attacks on Brazil, 130;
missionaries of, 179, 229.

Earthquakes, Lord of, 106.

Ecuador, religious condi-
tion, 118; struggles, 126;
independence, 141, 172;
Brigham's visit, 184, 186 ;
Bible in, 190.

Education in Latin Amer-
ica, 207.

Egypt, influence on pagan
America, 23.

El Abogado Cristiano, M.
E. paper, 202.

El Carro, attack on prot-
estants, 248.

El Faro (The Lighthouse),
Presbyterian paper, 202.

El Ramo de Olivo, Friends,
paper, 203.

Esquimau, 18.

El Testego, Congregation-
alist paper, 203.

El Tienpo, R. C. paper, at-
tacks on protestants, 254.

Encomiendas, 68, 175.

English attacks on Brazil,
130 ; missionaries, 177 ;
services in, 239; in fu-
ture of Latin America,
281.

Ercilla, on cruelty of Span-
iards, in his epic La Ar-
aucana, 69.

Episcopalian missions, 219.

Epworth League, 229.

Evangelistic work, agencies
used in, 218.

Faber, his hymn, 238.

Family, Aztec father's ad-
vice to his sons, 46;
homes of Latin America
to-day, 265.

Feasts, Aztec, elements in,
43, 44; Roman Catholic,
103, 240, etc.

Ferdinand and Isabella,

Index

297

zeal for conversion of the
Indians, 71.

Ferdinand VII., was popu-
lar with Latin Amer-
icans, 129, 137.

Fireworks, use in religious
feasts to delight the In-
dians, 104.

Fisher, his History of the
Reformation in Spanish,
204.

Fletcher, on R. C. saints,
115, 116; on feasts, 103.

Flood, supposed reference
to in New World tradi-
tions, 49.

Force, use by R. C. to, se-
cure conversion of In-
dians, 77.

France, influence in Latin
America, 146, 266, 281.

Franciscans, 64, 66; helped
by government, 78; beg
alms, 87; convents, 85;
beat Indians, 88; conflict
with civil authorities, 88;
Sahagun, 90.

French attacks on Brazil,
130.

Friends, or Quakers, 219.

French Intervention in
Mexico, 169.

French Revolution, influ-
ence in Latin America.

134-

Fuegians, destitution of, 19.

Fueros, or special privi-
leges and tribunals for
clergy, etc., 164.

Gante, Pedro, R. C. mis-
sionary in Mexico, a let-
ter of, 92.

Garcilasso, writings of, 24.

Gelyes, fight with Arch-
bishop Serna, 152.

Geneva sends missionaries
to Brazil, 178.

Germans in Latin America,
281.

Gods of pagan Indians,
meaning, 37.

Gomez, Abram, murdered
in Ahuacatitlan, 248; Ni-
canor, 248; Eusebio and
his brother, 197.

Gopch, Mrs., on Indian re-
ligious feasts, 241.

Goyaz, Indians of, 54.

Granados, Juan and Jose,
murder of latter, 197.

Great Spirit, of the In-
dians, 19.

Greece, influence on primi-
tive America, 23.

Green, J. S., his visit to
California from Sand-
wich islands, 182.

Green, Wm. Henry, Book
of Job and Introduction
to Old Testament in
Spanish, 205.

Greene, J. M., trip in Guer-
rero, 216 ; organization of
Presbyterian Theological
Seminary, 216.

Greenman, persecution of,
in Celaya, 248.

Grimes, persecution in
Patzcuaro, 249.

Guadalupe, the virgin of,
25, 108 ; on banner of Hi-
dalgo, 145 ; comments on,
260.

Guadalajara, centre of
protestant work, 269.

Guiana, missions in, 180,
229.

Guanajuato, Hidalgo in,

143-

Guatemala, reforms of Bar-
rios, 172, 257.

298

Index

Guayameo, influence of Bi-
ble in, 196.

Guayaquil, and sales of
New Testament, 187, 188.

Gucumatz, heathen god, 34.

Guaranies, Indians of Jes-
uit missions, 100.

Guerrero, state, in war of
independence, 144, 155,
156; trip of protestant
missionary, 216.

Guerrero, Vincente, libera-
tor, 144.

Guiana, Moravian Missions
in, 1 80, 218, 229.

Guzman, Blanco, reform
work in Venezuela, 172,
257.

Haiti, 63.

Hamilton, H. P., Bible
agency, report, 194.

Hawaiian Islands, 182.

Hiawatha, religious aspira-
tions of the Indian, 10 ;
idealized picture, 20; R.
C. priests' visit, 59.

Hidalgo, father of Mexican
independence, 142-144.

Hieronpmites, 64.

Hispaniola, 63.

Hodge, A. A., works trans-
lated into Spanish and
Portuguese, 205.

Hodge, Chas. "Way of
Life ", in Spanish, 205.

Holy War, conquest of In-
dians so regarded, 70.

Homes of Latin America,
265.

Honduras, president's defi-
ance of a papal Bull, 172.

Honolulu, 182.

Hospitals in Latin Amer-
ica, 269.

Huguenot colony in Brazil,

177; its destruction, 178,
229.

Hugo, Victor, address to
President Juarez, 167.

Huemac, mythical culture
hero of Mexico, 36.

Huitzilopochtli, Aztec war
god, 30-33.

Huitziton, culture hero, 34.

Humanitarian movements
in Latin America, 269.

Humboldt, A. von, 61 ; on
Indians, 130; on feasts
of R. C. Church, 240.

Hutckinson at Acapulco,
226.

Hurst, Bishop, Church His-
tories in Spanish, 204.

Hurtado, Vincente, contro-
versial articles, 202.

Hurukan, god of tempests,
24.

Hymnbooks, protestant, in
Spanish and Portuguese,
204.

Icazbalceta, on legend of
Guadalupe, 109.

Iceland and primitive
America, 23.

Idolatry of pagan Ameri-
cans, 45, 47; of R. C.
image worship, 274.

Illegitimacy in Latin Amer-
ica, 268.

Immigration into Latin
America, 281.

Impurity of life, 266.

Incas, capital Cuzco, 25;
government, 25; temples,
25, 26; priests, 28; feasts,
28.

Independence of colonies
in Latin America, causes
favoring, 127; move-
ments, 130.

Index

299

Indians, religious life, 17;
savage tribes, 18; mental
and moral development,
19; civilized races, 21;
their origin, 22; debt to
other countries, 23 ;
sources of their history,
24; idolatry, 31; number
in Latin America to-day,
51 ; why study them, 57 ;
value of study to mission-
ary, 58; religious nature,
58; suffering under en-
comiendas, 68 ; denied
that they had souls, 69;
why Indians accepted R.
C. Christianity, 73; easy
conversions, 75 ; secret
idolatry, 79, 80; used in
relays by monks, 87, 88;
beaten by monks, 88; in-
struction of by monks,
89; Indian preachers, R.
C., 91 ; conversions, 92 ;
forced to attend services,
95; systems of mnemon-
ics, C5 ; failure to under-
stand truths of Christian-
ity, 99; of Brazil, 133;
extortion, 135 ; position
of, 151 ; of Orinoco, 181 ;
at feasts, 240; dances,
241 ; future of, 281.

India and primitive Amer-
ica, 23.

Influence of protestantism
in Latin America, 257-

Inquisition, in Mexico,
number of victims, no;
auto de fe, in; Morelos
condemned, 144 ; old
building used for school,
188.

Instruction, see Schools.

Intemperance, 262.

Intervention, French, 169.
Irapuato, persecution of a

protestant girl, 249, 272.
Isabella, queen, zeal for

conversion of the In-
dians, 71.
Islam and Romanism,

244.

Italian colonists, 253, 281.
Iturbide, liberator and

leader of clerical party,

144, 155, 157, 162.
Ixtlilxochitl, writings of,

24.

Jacobs, W. B., 215.

Jamaica, 64.

James, St., aided Cortes,
73, 78; looked upon as a
god by Indians, 99.

Janeiro, Rio de, 176.

Japan and primitive Amer-
ica, 23.

Jesuits, 8; extent of work,
66, 78, 100; expulsion,
154, 172; against Hugue-
nots of Brazil, 178.

Jewish rites, resemblances
in heathen rites, 23.

Jimenez, Cardinal, 65.

John VI., of Brazil, 131.

Joshua, supposed reference
to sun of, 49.

Johnson, 213.

Joseph Bonaparte, in Spain,
129.

Juarez, President Benito,
51, 125, 166; on execution
o£ Maximilian, 170.

Judases, exploded on Sat-
urday of Passion Week,
105.

Junta of Cadiz, 129.

Keil, A. P., protestant mis-
sionary, 215.

300

Index

Kingsborough, publication
of Sahagun's works, 91.
Klondike, 68.
Kukulkan, 34.

Labastida, report of Icaz-
balceta to, on Virgin of
Guadalupe, 109.

Lancasterian schools in
Latin America, 185-189.

La Paz, Bolivia, R. C. feast
in, 241.

La Plata, 134, 135-

Las Casas, the Defender of
the Indians, 65, 69, 79-

Las Cruces, victory of Hi-
dalgo, 143.

Latin America, religious
development, order of,
7; religious need, 9, 14;
area, 16; rivalries in re-
ligion and politics with
Anglo-Saxons, 16 ; fac-
tors in religious life of,
17; pagan Indians, 17; R.
C. missionaries of, 61-
101 ; supremacy of R. C.
Church, 101-116; corrup-
tion of R. C. Church, 116-
121 ; rapid colonization,
62-64; cruelty of Spanish
conquerors, 70 ; crusa-
ders, 71-73; mixed race,
73; conversion of In-
dians, 73-76 ; violence
used, 78-84 ; churches and
convents built by forced
labor, 84-89; instruction
of natives in Christian
doctrine, 89-99 ; power
and wealth of Church,
102-110; feasts, 106-110;
Inquisition, 110-113;

saints, popular biogra-
phies, 110-117; corrup-
tion, 117-121; religious

struggle, 125; work of
patriots, 125-174; protest-
ant work, 175-283; perse-
cution i f protestants, 246-
250; influence of protest-
antism, 261-275; distrust
of Americans, 250-261 ;
self-support of protestant
work in, 275-280; Future
greatness of, 280-283.
Laws of Reform," 165.

Leo, Pope, on immorality
of clergy of Chile, 267.

Lectures, purpose, 7, 9;
plan, 14.

Lesson Helps for Sunday
Schools, 203.

Liberal platform in Mexico,
165.

Lima, Peru, Inquisition,
113; in struggle for inde-
pendence, 147; the Bible
and schools, 186.

Literature, Protestant, 204.

Liturgy, use demanded by
temperament of Latin
Americans, 243.

Longfellow. See Hiawatha.

Lord's Prayer, in sign lan-

£uage for Indians, 97.
ust for gold," a motive
in the conquest of the
New World, 68.
Luther, his hymn quoted, 175.

Mackenzie College, Brazil,
history and work, 214.

Magalhaes, on Indians of
Brazil, 55.

Mancera, R. C. missionary,
80.

Marchena, R. C. mission-
ary, 64.

Margat on zeal oj Spanish
monarchs for conversion
of Indians, 71.

Index

301

Marihuana, injurious drug,
used in Mexico, 262.

Mariscal, Ignacio, on Maxi-
milian's empire, 252; on
protestant work, 261.

Marmol, on future of Latin
America, 235.

Marriage, among the Az-
tecs, 42; Roman Catholic
and civil, 267, 268.

Martyn, Henry, on Roman-,
ism in Brazil, 177; in Ba-
hia, 1 80.

Mary, St., regarded as God
by the Indians, 99.

Masquerades, at religious
feasts, 103.

Master of Life, Indian be-
lief in, 19.

Matamoros, patriot general,
142.

Mateo, work in Colombia
as R. C. missionary, 94.

Maurice of Nassau, in Bra-
zil, IJJQ.

Maximilian, 149, 155, 162,
169, 170.

Max. Mtiller, on thoughts
of primitive humanity,

13-

Mayas, 34.

Maypo, victory of, 138.
McCook, colonel, 214.
McDermid, M., protestant

missionary, 213.
Medical work, 269.
Mejia, general of Maximil-
ian, shot, 170.
Mendieta, historian, 8, 80;

children at Tlascala, 81 ;

on beating o£ Indians, 88 ;

on Indian preachers, 91 ;

on imperfections of work

of conversion, 99.
Mendoza, A., R. C. press in

Mexico City, 98.

Mendoza, province of Cuyo,
Argentine, 138.

Merida, church built by
protestant congregation,
217.

Methodists, 86, 190, 218,
219, 269, 275, 276.

Methods, of R. C. and prot-
estant missionaries, 237-
245-

Mexican Home Mission
Board, 226, 229, 2^7.

Mexico, religious interest
in, 7; homes of Indians,
20; civilized Indian races,
21, 28, 29; Aztec civiliza-
tion and religion, 29-48;
resemblances between
Romanism and heathen
religion, 48-50 ; Indians
of to-day and their re-
ligious condition, 51-53;
R. C. missionaries, 66;
Cortes, 63 ; violent con-
versions, 78-84 ; con-
structive work of monks,
84-89 ; instruction given
Indians, 89-99 • power and
corruption of R. C.
Church, 102 ; independ-
ence won, 143-144; lib-
eral movements, 130, 134 ;
religious liberty won,
149-172; protestant work,
182, 194, 196, 202-231 ;
feasts, 239-241 ; persecu-
tion of protestants, 246-
250; distrust of United
States, 250-251 ; influence
of protestantism, 261-275 ;
future of Mexico, 280- 283.

Mescal. — Intoxicating na-
tive drink, Mexico, 262.

Meyer, 245.

Michoacan, Indian nations
of, 29.

302

Index

Midas, touch of by Incas
and R. C. clergy, 27.

Millar, C. C, 216.

Miller, general, on inde-
pendence, 130.

Milne, report on Bible dis-
tribution, 195.

Miramon, a leader of the
clerical party, 162, 170.

Miranda, liberator, 140.

Missions, protestant, great-
ness of task in Latin
America, 15.

Missionaries, Roman Cath-
olic, method, 58, 77, etc.;
heroism, 67 ; imperfec-
tions in work, 99. Prot-
estant, societies at work
and statistics, 218, 219;
centres, 222, 224; rural
districts, 225 ; agencies
used, 228; confederation,
229; comity, 228.

Mitre on Beltran, 138.

Mixed race, help to R. C.
missionaries, 73 ; future
of, 281.

Mnemonics, systems used
by Indians, 91.

Mongiardino, murdered in
Bolivia, 249.

Monks, see Missionaries.

Monroe doctrine, 250.

Monroy, murdered in Api-
zaco, 249.

Monterey, Bible in, 194.

Montesinos, R. C. mission-
ary, 65.

Montevideo, Lancasterian
schools, 188; attitude to-
ward U. S., 253.

Montezuma, 68.

Montufar, Bishop, against
monks, 87; imperfection
of Indian conversions, 99.

Moody, visit to Mexico, 245.

Morales, Arcadio, protest-
ant worker, 225, 229.

Moravians. 180, 218, 229.

Morelia, Hidalgo in, 143.

Morelos, Indian descent,
51; condemned by the
Inquisition, 112; as pa-
triot general, 142, 144.

Motley, on Maximilian, 167.

Miiller, Max, on thoughts
of primitive humanity, 13.

Murray, 245.

Nahui Ollin, " four move-
ments," 38.

Napoleon I., helped move-
ment for independence in
Latin America, 128, 131.

Napoleon III., plan for an
American empire, 127,
169; downfall, 171, 252,
282.

Navajoes, 242.

Navagiero, on emigrants
from Spain to America, 62.

New Granada, 80, 134. See
Colombia.

New Hebrides, 181.

New Testament, 186. See
Bible and Bible Societies.

Nicodemuses, 244.

Noah, supposed pictures of,
49.

Normal Schools of protest-
ant missions, Saltillo,
213; Mexico City, 213;
Curityba, 212.

Norway, and primitive
America, 23.

Norwood, fight in Colombia
for right to sell Bibles,
198, 249.

Oaxaca, Indians of, 52.
O'Higgins, liberator of
Chile, 137.

Index

Olmedo, R. C. missionary
with Cortes, at Cozumel,

Olsson, Emilio, travels in

benighted South America,

56.
Omar of New Spain, Zum-

marraga, 83.
Ometochtli, priest of, stoned

by children, 81.
Orinoco, Indians of,

reached by Moravians,

181.
Ozumba, feast in, 95.

Paez, Venezuelan liberator,
141.

Pagans of Latin America,
see Indians, Aztecs, etc.

Palacio, see Riva Palacio.

Pando, President, 255.

Palemke, cross of, 39.

Papers, protestant, contents
of, 203.

Papists, sense in which
term used, 7.

Paraguay, 8, 66; Jesuit Re-
ductions in, 100.

Parish, Sir Woodbine, on
Jesuits of Paraguay,
101.

Parties and policies in
struggle for liberty, 146.

Parvin, protestant mission-
ary, Buenos Ayres, 183.

Passion Week, in Brazil,
104 ; in Mexico, 106.

Patagonia, its Indians, 19;
a chief and the New Tes-
tament, 186.

Paton, J., 181.

Patriots, part in giving re-
ligious liberty, 144.

Patronato, importance of
dispute over, in religious
conflict, 158.

Patzeuaro, attack on J.
Grimes, 249.

Paul, the apostle, apply pic-
ture of heathen, to In-
dians, 20; his plan fol-
lowed in protestant work,
224, 278.

Paul III., Bull in defense
of the Indians, 70.

Pedro I., Dom, of Brazil,
131.

Pedro II., Dom, of Brazil,
131, 132-

Penzotti, F., 197, 249.

Perez, Melchor, right of
asylum denied to, 153.

Persecution of protestants
in Latin America, 246 et
seq.

Peru, the Incas, their civil-
ization and religion, 25-
28; Pizarro's conquest of,
63 ; murder of R. C. mis-
sionary, 65, 66; idols dis-
covered in Cuzco, 79;
convents and churches
built, 86; saints of, 113;
Inquisition, 113; debate
on religious toleration,
147, 172; Brigham's visit,
184; mission work, 186;
persecution of protest-
ants, 249; Pres. Romana,

255-

Peter, St., patron saint of
Cortes, 73 ; image of, fish-
ing in Pacific, 1 06.

Phallic worship among the
Indians, 39.

Philip II., decrees relative
to Indians, 75, 88.

Philippines, 250.

Phillips in Queretaro, 208.

Pius IX., 169, 171, 282.

Pizarro, takes priests with
him, 72; sword of, 238.

304

Index

Plata, La, 63.

Platforms, of clerical party
in Mexico, 164 ; of lib-
erals, 164.

Plymouth brethren, 218,
219.

Political leaders, many sin-
cere patriots, 161 ; some
after spoils, 161.

Polytheism of Indians, easy
to add R. C. saints and
images to the list, 75.

Popes, see Alexander VL,
Paul IV., Pius IX, Leo
XIII.

Popocatepetl, 23.

Portugal, neglect of Brazil,
130; Dutch and, 179.

Portuguese, area occupied
by, in South America, 16.

Pratt, H. B., translation of
the Bible into Spanish,
218; commentary on the
Bible, 218.

Presbyterians, 219, 275.

Presbyteries of Mexico,

275-

Prescott, W. H., on cruelty
of Spaniards, 73; on In-
dians, 79, 86; on colon-
ization of America, 62;
use of violence in estab-
lishing R. C. worship,
78.

Present Problem, in Latin
America, factors in, 238.

Press, R. C. Mexico City,
98; Protestant, 200.

Priests, of Incas, 28 ; of Az-
tecs, 39.

Princeton, and books in
Spanish, 218.

Provost, G. M., 225.

Problem, the Present, in
protestant mission work
in Latin America, 238.

Prospect, probable Future
of Latin America, 281.

Protestantism, influence on
Latin America, 258, 272.

Protestants, 177, etc.

Puerto Bello, 141.

Puerto Rico, 63, 126, 144,

Pulque, national drink of
Mexico, 262.

Puritans, 177.

Purves, sermons in Span-
ish, 205.

Punta Arenas, Bible agency
in, 196.

Quakers, see Friends.

Queretaro, and Maximilian,
170.

Quetzalcoatl, Aztec god, 31 ;
appearance and legend,
34; symbolism, 36.

Quiches, of Central Amer-
ica, 34.

Quito, freed, 141; New
Testament in, 187; Bible
society in, 188.

Rambler, on attitude of pa-
pist toward protestant,

247.
Ramirez, S., 5; catechisms

for Indians, 98.
Rankin, Melinda, pioneer

protestant worker in

Mexico, 213, 225.
Raymi, Peruvian feast,

time of the Incas, 28.
Reductions of Jesuits in

Paraguay, 100.
Reform, Laws of, Mexico,

165.
Religious development of

Latin America, factors

in, 238.
Religious liberty, struggle

Index

for in Latin America,
144; debate in Peruvian
Congress, 147.

Remedies, virgin of, Mex-
ico, 99.

Repartimientos, their injus-
tice to the Indians, 135.

Resemblances to pagan
ceremonies in Romanism,
49, 50.

Revolutions, religious

struggle a prominent
cause of, 144.

Rio Claro, Brazil, protest-
ant school in, 211.

Rio Grande do Sul, revolu-
tion in, 132.

Riva Palacio, Vincente,
Mexican historian, states
why Indians accepted
Romanism readily, 74, 75 ;
on destruction of ancient
manuscripts, hieroglyph-
ic rolls, etc., by Zum-
marraga and others, 84;
on value of the work
done by R. C. mission-
aries, 89; on love of cere-
monies in Latin Ameri-
cans, 242.

Roca, president of Argen-
tina, 255, 256.

Rocafuerte, Mexican lib-
eral, on education, 189.

Roman Catholic Church in
Latin America, condemn-
ed as a system, 8; resem-
blances to pagan system,
24, 49, 50; missionaries,
64-101 ; becomes religion
of Latin America, 101 ;
wealth and corruption,
120; the state religion,
others prohibited, 146 ;
attitude in struggle for
independence, 154; oppo-

sition to granting of re-
ligious liberty, 146-174;
persecution of protest-
ants 246-250 ; influenced
and modified by protest-
antism, 273.

Romana, of Peru, 255.

Romero, Matias, on Indians
of Mexico, 51, 53; on
unity of Mexican history,
150; on protestantism,
260.

Rosa, Santa, of Peru, sketch
of, 113.

Sacred Year of the Aztecs,
44.

Sacrifices of the pagans of
America, 28, 44.

Sabbath observance, in
Latin America, only by
protestants, 274.

Sahagun, 8; his writings,
24; on symbolic washings
of Aztec child, 41 ; on de-
struction of heathen tem-
ples and idols, 80; sketch
of, 90.

Saltillo, Presbyterian Nor-
mal School in, 213; evan-
gelistic work, of Isaac
Boyce, W. Wallace, and
others, 227.

Samuel, S., poetical quota-
tion from, 123.

Sanchez, P., on origin of
cross of Cozumel, 38.

Sandwich Islands, a mis-
sionary to California, 182.

San Francisco de Solano,

113.
San Jose, Marquis of, a R.

C., but Bibles sold in his

house, 187.
San Juan de Puerto Rico.

See Puerto Rico.

306

Index

San Luis Potosi, mission-
ary centre, work of C. S.
Williams and others, 227.

San Martin, sketch of his

_ life, 137; resignation at
height of his power, 139;
on Lancasterian s'chools,
188.

San Miguel, Hidalgo's
grit of given there, 142.

San Salvador, 72.

Santa Anna, his policy, 149,
162; adulation by clergy,
163.

Santa Rosa, sketch of life,
113.

Santiago, Chile, Bible So-
ciety in, 188 ; schools, 212.

Santo Domingo, 65.

San Toribio, of Peru, 113.

Sao Paulo, attempt at in-
dependence, 130; promi-
nence in revolution, 132 ;
Mackenzie College, 212.

Sarmiento, historical writ-
ings, 24.

Schools, of Aztecs, 42; of
Protestants, 206 ; statistics,
209 ; Sao Paolo, 212, 218 ;
Santiago, Chile, 212 ; Sal-
tillo and Mexico City
Normal School, 213 ;
Coyoacan, 215.

Self-support of protestant
work, 275 ; in Brazil, 276 :
in Chile, 276; in Mexico,
277.

Self-torture, of Aztecs, 45.

Serna, Juan Perez de,
Archbishop, fight with
Viceroy Gelves, 152.

Seventh Day Adventists,

Seville, emigration from, to

America, 62.
Seward, ultimatum to Na-

poleon III. about French
troops in Mexico, 252.

South American Mission-
ary Society, 219.

Shrines, sacred, of Latin
America. See Ameca-
meca, Asuncion, Copoco-
bana, Guadalupe, Reme-
dies.

Simohton, protestant mis-
sionary in Brazil, 222.

Sin, Aztec sense of, 45.

Sioux Indians, 242.

Sonora, Bible in, 196.

South America, see Amer-
ica, South, and names of
the different republics in
South America.

Southey, R., on mendacity
of Jesuit biography of
Anchieta, 115.

Spain, plan of Aranda, 127 ;
recognition of independ-
ence of United States,
127; Juntas, 128.

Spaniards, area occupied in
America, 16; as god-
parents of the Indians,
76.

Spaulding in Brazil, 191.

Stevens, missionary killed
in Mexico, 249.

Stoddard, H. H., temper-
ance worker, reception in
Mexico, 265.

Sucre, celebrated liberator,
141.

Sun, worship of, by In-
cas, 26; temple at Cuzco,
27; among Aztecs, 31, 37;
elsewhere, 37.

Sunday Schools, of Prot-
estants, 229.

Sunday School, Lesson
Helps, 203; conventions,
229.

Index

307

Synod of Brazil, 223, 276;

of Mexico, 276.
Synopsis of Lectures, 12,

60, 124, 176, 234.

Tabasco, violent conversion
of Indians, 78.

Tabor, in Mexican strug-
gles, 168.

Talabarteros, church of pic-
ture of Cortes chastened,
96.

Teachers, R. C, 208; Prot-
estant, 208; infidel, 208.

Tenochtitlan, capital of Az-
tecs, 29.

Temperance movement in
Latin America, 262.

Teocallis, or pagan temples,
Mexico City, 30; frag-
ments used for R. C.
churches, 86.

Tequila, intoxicating liquor,
262.

Texcoco, ally of Aztecs, 29.

Text-books, see Books.

Tezcatlipoca, Aztec God, 30,

Theological seminaries ;
Coyoacan, 215 ; Santiago,
Chile, 212; Sao Paulo, 213.

Thomas, St., supposed
apostle to America, 23,

49-

Thompson, Waddy, on
Guadalupe, 109; on Mex-
ico in general, 118.

Thomson, H. C., protestant
missionary in Mexico,
248.

Thomson, J., letters on
South America, 185.

Tiradentes, revolutionary
leader of Brazil, 131.

Titicaca, shrine of, 27; fes-
tival of Copocobana, 106.

Tlacopan, ally of Aztecs,

29.
Tlaloc, Aztec god of rain,

30, 35-

Tlalpam, Passion Play, 35.
Tlapallan, 35.
Tlascala, heathen priest

killed by children, 81.
Tolosa, where manuscript

of Sahagun was hidden

away, 91.

Totec, his shrine, 31.
Trade relations, 271.
Transition, made easy from

paganism to Romanism,

48.

Trumbull, protestant mis-
sionary in Chile, 271.
Tunja, 80.
Tzompantli, or flag of

skulls, 29.

United States and Latin
America, 15, 146, 170, 177.
Uruguay, see Montevideo.

Valencia, R. C. missionary
to New Spain, 66; letter
of, 94-

Valparaiso, Bible Society
of, 188.

Valverde, work in Cuzco
and Peru, 86.

Vasconoellos, life of An-
chieta, ii&

Vincente, San, 178.

Venezuela, early mission-
aries, 65, 134, 172; Lan-
casterian schools, 188;
boundary claims, 252 ;
Guzman, Blanco, 257.

Vetancourt, maintained that
Indians had souls, 69.

Viceroyalties of Spanish
America, 134.

Victoria, 155.

index

Villegagnon, admiral,

treachery toward Hugue-
nots of Brazil, 177.

Vigil, I. M., Mexican his-
torian, on unity of Mexi-
can history, 149.

Walden, Bishop, on area
occupied by different na-
tionalities, 16.

Wales and primitive Amer-
ica, 23.

Wallace, Lew, The Fair
God, 34.

Wallace, T. F., Presbyter-
ian missionary, 227.

War, of '47, 251.

Webster, Daniel, on strug-
gling Latin America, 126.

Wheeler, J., Presbyterian
Normal School, Saltillo,
213.

Wesley, John, sermons in
Spanish, 205.

West India Company, 179.

West India Conference, 28.

Woman's Christian Tem-
perance Union, in Mex-
ico, 265.

Woman's work, more open-
ings for women, 269.

Xochimilco, sale of pulque
prohibited, 152.

Yankee in Latin America,

250, 253.
Young People's Societies,

274.
Yucatan, garden of Eden,

etc., 23 ; nations of, 29.

Zacatecas, 225, 227, 249.

Zaragoza, 248.

Zacualpam, 277.

Zitacuaro, 226, 229.

Zumarraga, the Omar of
New Spain, 83; letter on
mission work, 93; his
press, 98.

MAY 2 2 1917