THE STATES OF CENTRAL AMERICA.
A FEW words on the open doors to mission work in the States of Central America, and also in the State of Ecuador, South America, will interest our readers. The present day is chiefly remarkable in its mission work for the doors which are constantly being opened in different countries for the entrance of the Word of Salvation. Lands closed for centuries against the Scriptures are now open to their circulation, and nowhere is this more apparent than in Roman Catholic countries. In some of the States of Central and South America the Romish Church has for generations held the people in utter ignorance of the Word of God; but now, though the State religion be Roman Catholic, the respective Governments afford liberty to distribute the Scriptures and to teach their truths. A very small band of Christian workers is now struggling to introduce the Scriptures in the Central States of America.
Writing from
HONDURAS,
one of these missionaries says:—
“I doubt if any new work among the heathen in these last centuries has had greater evidence of God's unmixed grace and favor, in spite of missionary flesh,' than has had the work in Honduras.
“As to evangelizing Honduras, it is most probable that today no other land in all heathendom is so open to the preaching of the Gospel, for the following reasons:—Because of the small number of priests here, there being about forty in all Honduras, for they will not stay where poverty and hardships abound. Because a goodly number of the people have lost faith in Rome. And also because of the poverty of the people.
“Perfect religious liberty is guaranteed by the Constitution, but this, of course, does not mean that the people will not persecute.
"Contrary to the laws of Honduras, the officials of San Augustine have been trying to compel the converts to Christ in that city, under threat of imprisonment, to do work on the church building; and to collect alms for the processions of idolatry, and to do personal service for the priest. With loyalty to Jesus they have said, 'We can go to jail, but we cannot do these inconsistent things.'
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“The people here seem to persecute the native converts much more than they do any of us. The alcalde (mayor of San Augustine) attempted to make Justa Rodrigus (a convert) gather up alms for the priest, threatening her with imprisonment for her refusal. We therefore called on the commander of the department of Copan, who lives in Santa Rosa, and laid the matter before him. He said the alcalde had no authority to support his action, that religious liberty was guaranteed, and that they could not compel anyone to serve the priest in any way. He said he would write the alcalde of San Augustine, so we trust the annoyance along this line will stop; but we expect persecution to deepen in many ways as the truth is sounded out.
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“Here, in San Rosa, the house of Nina Fransito, where we held meetings for a week, has been stoned, and plans were prepared to poison us...
“We are right in the midst of Lent, and every Friday a procession marches from the temple to an elevation outside the town called Calvary. They bear a life-size image of Christ carrying upon its back a monstrous cross. For the purpose of more fully deceiving the people, the priest petitioned the authorities for police protection, saying that we were planning to molest the procession last Friday. The police were granted, with instruction to arrest us should we attempt to molest them. At the same time—these things being unknown to us—we held four meetings on the street in advance of the procession, and when it passed we were standing on the porch of Nina Fransito's house, which the same procession had stoned the previous week.
“A few days later the alcalde (mayor) sent for us, and said that he had been told that the, people were planning to molest us, and that he believed the priest, whom he said was a very wicked man, was at the bottom of it.
He further said that he would give the police special instructions to protect us, and that he would be glad for us to assist him in keeping good order by reporting any disturbance. He also said that he would, see that the officials in San Augustine, over whom he has superior authority, did not further annoy the believers. Thus our God has wrought for us in these matters without our asking the authorities for help.
“Formerly I had a great dread of working in Roman Catholic lands, but now I would rather work among them than any class of heathen in the world. One does not have to prove to them the inspiration of the Bible. They do not question this anything like the people do in Protestant lands. Again, any good Bible student can show that every doctrine, without exception, of the Roman Catholic Church is not of God. The idolatry of Rome is more dreadful than you can imagine. The deceit and licentiousness of the priests beyond description.”
BIBLE DISTRIBUTION IN GUATEMALA.
Another missionary writes: “We left with a cargo of books for Esquipulas, Guatemala, where a great Catholic feast was being held from January 1st to 15th. We passed through many towns and villages, and in each left some testimony for Jesus. The last days of our trip we met a great many persons returning from the feast. We thought it a good time to spread the Word of God far and wide, so offered our Bibles for sale, and from our mules sold Gospels and Testaments so fast that we could not keep track of the number.
“After being located at Esquipulas we started out with our arms loaded with Bibles, and going down the main street, which was crowded with thousands of people, we commenced to cry out Santa Biblia de venta ' ('Holy Bible for sale'). In less than a day and a half we had sold the last book of our cargo! It is said that people attend the feast from each of the five republics of Central America, and also from Mexico and South America.
“Esquipulas is not a large place, but it has one of the largest and finest churches in Central America. The annual January feast is called the feast of the Black Saint.' The image, life size, is suspended on a cross in a large glass case at the far end of a spacious temple, the whole being hid from the view of the audience chamber by a curtain. The people pass through a side door, ascend a large platform, and then pass through the glass case on their knees, dropping their gift of money into a slot that conveys it under the platform, and then, kissing the feet of the Black Saint,' pass on and out. The poor, deluded people are told that the image is a petrified body, a saint from the time of Christ, which was found in the mountains near Esquipulas. When the people are sick or in trouble they pray to this saint, and vow to make it a visit and pay it so much money if they are delivered. In this way many who get out of their difficulties, or recover from sickness, make long journeys, some occupying months, on foot, and the treasury of the church and the pockets of deceiving priests are enriched.
“A colored man from the States, now living here, told us that he painted the image two years ago, and that it was made of wood, and that there were two or three discarded images of the ' Black Saint ' in the church garret. Perhaps fifty thousand or more pilgrims attend this feast every year. Drunkenness, gambling, and robbery abound on every hand. Every man, with scarce an exception, carries a gun or a sword. Before starting we were repeatedly warned against robbers, but the Black Saint' is by far the biggest robber of them all.”
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Let us now turn to
ECUADOR.
The "New York Herald" of May last announced that the President of Ecuador had issued an order for the expulsion of the priests because of their activity in the revolution in the State. "From almost the very first the uprisings in Ecuador have been among religious fanatics, who, led by the priests, and receiving their support from that quarter, have harassed the Government persistently." The President declares "that he is determined to rid Ecuador of the priestly thralldom which has existed there for the last thirty years.”
A month previously to the issuing of this order an American missionary, who visited Guayaquil, Ecuador, with Gospel books and literature, had to suffer considerably for the Gospel's sake; and such being the case, the action of the President will be accepted by Christians as another instance of God's way of opening the doors for the entrance of His Word.
Let us hear Mr. Strain's story.
After some heavy traveling the missionary reached Guaranda.
“In the morning it seemed laid on me," he says, "to distribute some tracts on the crowded market plaza, so, selecting several which seemed free from offensive references to Catholicism, I took perhaps two or three hundred, and as soon as my actions were discovered I could hardly give them out fast enough. In a little while the conductor of the mail under whose care I was traveling came to me saying the people were greatly excited, claiming that the tracts were against the Catholic religion, and that if I would go on to San Jose de Chimbo, some fifteen or twenty miles distant, he would provide a horse at once, and would join me there that night. I had no time to think over the matter; the horse was brought, and as it was being saddled, boys and young men crowded into the hotel court, looked up towards my room, and cried, Que baje no mas,' a free translation of which would be, Let him come down—we will do the rest.'
“The landlady closed the big front gates to the hotel as the mob was crowding in, but as they were opened I rode out, turned my horse toward Chimbo, dug the spurs into his sides, and flew down the street, the crowd after me. I saw a crowd waiting ahead, so turned into another street, when I noticed a horseman following, who, coming within hailing distance, told me it was the order of the commander of the troops that I should return.
“He caught my bridle-rein, and, with the help of a man on foot who came up, commenced to lead me back. We had not gone far before we met the mob. I was made to dismount, and fully expected they were going to kill me, but they were after the tracts. They broke into a package behind my saddle, and into my medicine case, tearing into bits what they found, but not securing all I had. They even pulled my little Spanish Testament out of my hip pocket, and that was the last I saw of it.
“About this time some young men arrived who tried to take my part, but they were an exceedingly small minority. The ringleader, after shouting at me, responded to the demand for my death by saying they would first take me to the commander, but there seemed a slim chance that I would ever get there.
“Just then a rather big man came running to meet us; he drew a revolver, struck the man who was leading my horse with his fist, and said he would shoot anyone who touched me. He then made himself known to me as the commander himself, and told me he would guarantee my safety, and took me into the barracks. As we went in, the crowd made a rush, but the young men inside ran here and there gathering guns, and putting in cartridges; the sharp click of the hammers was heard again and again, and the result was the mob remained outside. As I sat down and thought of the awful exhibition of hatred on the part of the Catholic Church of Guaranda, as well as the wonderful workings of our God, I wept.
“Some man, whose heart God had touched, sent me as good a breakfast as the place afforded, but you can imagine I could not eat very much. The commander sent quite a lengthy telegram to President Alfaro, and inquired as to what was missing, and was quite anxious I should understand this was the work of the enemies of the Government. The soldiers kept coming to me for papers, and I soon gave away my stock of calendars.
“About 3 p.m. the commander sent me out of the city under an escort of soldiers, and eventually reached Guayaquil safely.”
Another dispatch from Ecuador mentions the arrest of Father Rivadene Cialik, of Guaranda, on the charge of conspiracy to assassinate Captain Saltos, commander-in-chief of the Government battalion in Guaranda. This captain is probably the man who was used by God to save Mr. Strain's life.
Thus the secular power ranges itself against the spiritual power, and aids the distribution of God's Word. We need have no doubt that when the brave missionary revisits the places where his life was so nearly taken from him he will find people anxious to obtain his tracts and books. We say this, for such is the case elsewhere in similar circumstances. Where the Lord opens the door no man can shut it.
A FEW WORDS FROM CHINA.
Dr. Parrott writes us as follows. He was leaving China at the date of his letter.
“I found it very hard to break away from my native children in Lao-he-Kori. Their love and tears were too much for me. Some of them put their arms around me and wept, urging me to return to them quickly. One rough old man cried for half an hour, and told the others that he could not understand what ailed him. He had not cried since he was a boy, when his father used to beat him. Now the hard skin of his old eyes had broken and the tears began to flow.' This was his expressive way of putting it.
“The old nurse was beside herself with grief at the thought of losing the children she had learned to love.
“Let no one say that the Gospel of Christ has no power to change the hard hearts of these naturally stolid and unsympathetic people after such exhibitions of affection as I have seen.
“How truly it may be said that the Gospel produces the same kind of fruit in every believer, no matter what the social condition may be! I mean that our admiration of the Lord Jesus begets in us something of His own Spirit. What wisdom of God so to order it! By what other means could it be possible for men of every tribe and nation to become of one heart and of one mind? Men try to be one in doctrine, and in opinion, and in codes of morality; but how sadly all such unions fail! One in Christ—the Center—the Heir of Creation.”