Brazilian Sketches | Page 4

GOSPEL TRIUMPHANT IX. JOSE BARRETTO
X. CAPTAIN EGYDIO XI. FELICIDADE (Felicity) XII.
PERSECUTION XIII. THE BIBLE AS A MISSIONARY FACTOR
XIV. THE METTLE OF THE NATIVE CHRISTIAN XV. THE
TESTING OF THE MISSIONARY XVI. THE URGENT CALL XVII.
THE LAST STAND OF THE LATIN RACE APPENDIX

FOREWORD.
I was dining one day with a very successful business man who,
although his business had extensive relations in many lands, was
meagerly informed about the work of missions. I thought I might
interest him by telling him something of the effects of missions upon
commerce. So I told him about how the civilizing presence of
missionary effort creates new demands which in turn increases trade.
He listened comprehendingly for a while and then remarked: "What
you say is interesting, but what I wish to know is not whether missions
increase business--we have business enough and have methods of
increasing the volume--What I want to know is whether the missionary
is making good and whether Christianity is making good in meeting the
spiritual needs of the heathen. If ever I should become greatly
interested in missions it would be because I should feel that
Christianity could solve the spiritual problem for the heathen better
than anything else. What are the facts about that phase of missions?"
These words made a profound impression on me, and since then I have
spent little time in setting forth the by-products of missions,
tremendously important and interesting though they are. I place the
main emphasis on how gloriously Christianity, through the efforts of
the missionary, meets the aching spiritual hunger of the heathen heart
and transforms his life into spiritual efficiency.
Since this is my conception of what the burden of the message
concerning missions should be, it should not surprise anyone to find the
following pages filled with concrete statements of actual gospel
triumphs. I have endeavored to draw a picture of the religious situation
in Brazil by reciting facts. I have described some of the work of others
done in former years and I have recorded some wonderful
manifestations of the triumphant power of the gospel which I was
privileged to see with my own eyes. These pages record testimony
which thing, I take it, most people desire concerning the missionary
enterprise. More arguments might have been stated and more
conclusions might have been expressed, but I have left the reader to
make his own deductions from the facts I have tried faithfully to record.
No attempt has been made to follow in detail the itinerary taken by my
wife and myself which carried us into Brazil, Argentina and Chili in

South America, and Portugal and Spain in Europe. It is sufficient to
know that we reached the places mentioned and can vouch for the truth
of the facts stated.
I have confined myself to sketches about Brazil because I did not desire
to write a book of travel, but to show how the gospel succeeds in a
Catholic field as being an example of the manner in which it is
succeeding in other similar lands where it is being preached vigorously.
I wish to say also that I have drawn the materials from the experiences
of my own denomination more largely because I know it better and
therefore could bear more reliable testimony. It should be borne in
mind that the successes of this one denomination are typical of the
work of several other Protestant bodies now laboring in Brazil.
The missionaries and other friends made it possible wherever we went
to observe conditions at close range and under favorable auspices. To
these dear friends who received us so cordially and labored so
untiringly for our comfort and to make our visit most helpful we would
express here our heartfelt gratitude. We record their experiences and
ours in the hope that the knowledge of them may bring to the reader a
better appreciation of the missionary and the great cause for which the
missionary labors so self- sacrificingly.
Richmond, Va.

CHAPTER I
.
THE COUNTRY.
We had sailed in a southeasternly direction from New York twelve
days when we rounded Cape St. Roque, the easternmost point of South
America. A line drawn due north from this point would pass through
the Atlantic midway between Europe and America. If we had sailed
directly south we should have touched the western instead of the
eastern coast, for the reason that practically the entire continent of
South America lies east of the parallel of longitude which passes
through New York.
After sighting land we sailed along the coast three days before we cast
anchor at Bahia, our first landing place. Two days more were required
to reach Rio de Janeiro. When we afterwards sailed from Rio to Buenos

Aires, Argentina, we spent three and one-half days skirting along the