former fellow-passenger, the assassin, had regained his freedom and
could be seen walking about the town. But then--well, he was rich, and
money does all in Brazil--yea, the priest will even tell you it
purchases an entrance into heaven! In worldly matters the people _see_
its power, and in spiritual matters they _believe_ it. If the priest
has heard of Peter's answer to Simon--"Thy money perish with thee,
because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with
money"--he keeps it to himself. How can he live if he deceives not?
Strange indeed is the thought that, three hundred years before the
caravels of Portuguese conquerors ever sailed these waters, the law of
the Indian ruler of that very part of the country read: "Judges who
receive bribes from their clients are to be considered as thieves
meriting death." And a clause in the Sacred Book read: "He who kills
another condemns his own self." Has the interior of South America gone
forward or backward since then? Was the adoration of the Sun more
civilizing than the worship of the Virgin?
When we got down into Argentine waters I began to feel cold, and donned
an overcoat. Thinking it strange that I should feel thus in the
latitude which had in former times been so agreeable, I investigated,
and found the thermometer 85 degrees Fah. in the shade. After Corumbá
that was _cold_.
PART V.
URUGUAY
[Illustration]
THE LONE TRAIL.
And sometimes it leads to the desert and the tongue swells
out of the mouth,
And you stagger blind to the mirage, to die in the mocking
drouth.
And sometimes it leads to the mountain, to the light of the
lone camp-fire,
And you gnaw your belt in the anguish of the hunger-goaded
desire.
--_Robert W. Service._
The Republic of Uruguay has 72,210 square miles of territory, and is
the smallest of the ten countries of South America. Its population is
only 1,103,000, but the Liebig Company, "which manufactures beef tea
for the world, owns nearly a million acres of land in Uruguay. On its
enormous ranches over 6,000,000 head of cattle have passed through its
hands in the fifty years of its existence." [Footnote: Clark.
"Continent of Opportunity."]
The republic seems well governed, but, as in all Spanish-American
countries, the ideas of right and wrong are strange. While taking part
in a religious procession, President Borda was assassinated in 1897. A
man was seen to deliberately walk up and shoot him. The Chief Executive
fell mortally wounded. This cool murderer was condemned to two years'
imprisonment for _insulting_ the President.
In 1900, President Arredondo was assassinated, but the murderer was
acquitted on the ground that "he was interpreting the feelings of the
people."
Uruguay is a progressive republic, with more than a thousand miles of
railway. On these lines the coaches are very palatial. The larger part
of the coach, made to seat fifty-two passengers, is for smokers, the
smaller compartment, accommodating sixteen, is for non-smokers, thus
reversing our own practice. Outside the harbor of the capital a great
sea-wall is being erected, at tremendous cost, to facilitate shipping,
and Uruguay is certainly a country with a great future.
The capital city occupies a commanding position at the mouth of the
great estuary of the Rio de la Plata; its docks are large and modern,
and palatial steamers of the very finest types bring it in daily
communication with Buenos Ayres. The Legislative Palace is one of the
finest government buildings in the world. The great Solis Theatre,
where Patti and Bernhardt have both appeared, covers nearly two acres
of ground, seats three thousand people and cost three million dollars
to build. The sanitary conditions and water supply are so perfect that
fewer people die in this city, in proportion to its size, than in any
other large city of the world.
The Parliament of Uruguay has recently voted that all privileges
hitherto granted to particular religious bodies shall be abrogated,
that the army shall not take part in religious ceremonies, that army
chaplains shall be dismissed, that the national flag shall not be
lowered before any priest or religious symbol. So another state cuts
loose from Rome!
The climate of the country is such that grapes, apricots, peaches, and
many other fruits grow to perfection. Its currency is on a more stable
basis than that of any other Spanish republic, and its dollar is
actually worth 102 cents. The immigrants pouring into Uruguay have run
up to over 20,000 a year; the population has increased more than 100
per cent in 12 years; so we shall hear from Uruguay in coming years
more than we have done in the past.
CHAPTER XIII.
SKETCHES OF A HORSEBACK RIDE THROUGH THE REPUBLIC.
I CROSS THE SILVER RIVER.
I left Buenos Ayres for Uruguay in an Italian _polacca_. We weighed
anchor one Sunday afternoon, and as the breeze was favorable, the white
sails, held up by strong ropes of rawhide, soon wafted us away from the
land. We sailed through a fleet of ships from all parts of the world,
anchored in the stream, discharging and loading cargoes. There, just
arrived, was an Italian emigrant ship with a thousand people on board,
who had come to start life afresh. There was the large British steamer,
with her clattering windlass, hoisting on board live bullocks from
barges moored alongside. The animals are raised up by means of a strong
rope tied around their horns, and as the ship rocks on the swell they
dangle in mid-air. When a favorable moment arrives they are quickly
dropped on to the deck, completely stupefied by their aerial flight.
As darkness fell, the wind dropped, and we lay rocking on the bosom of
the river, with only the twinkling lights of the Argentine coast to
remind us of the solid world. The shoreless river was, however,
populous with craft of all rigs, for this is the highway to the great
interior, and some of them were bound to Cuyabá, 2,600 miles in the
heart of the continent. During the night a ship on fire in the offing
lit up with great vividness the silent waste of waters, and as the
flames leaped up the rigging, the sight was very grand. Owing to calms
and light winds, our passage was a slow one, and I was not sorry when
at last I could say good-bye to the Italians and their oily food. Three
nights and two days is a long time to spend in crossing a river.
MONTEVIDEO.
Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is "one of the handsomest cities in
all America, north or south." Its population is over 350,000. It is one
of the cleanest and best laid-out cities on the continent; it has
broad, airy streets and a general look of prosperity. What impresses
the newcomer most is the military display everywhere seen. Sentry
boxes, in front of which dark-skinned soldiers strut, seem to be at
almost every corner. Although Uruguay has a standing army of under
3,500 men, yet gold-braided officers are to be met with on every
street. There are twenty-one generals on active service, and many more
living on pension. More important personages than these men assume to
be could not be met with in any part of the world.
The armies of most of these republics are divided into sections bearing
such blasphemous titles as "Division of the Son of God," "Division of
the Good Shepherd," "Division of the Holy Lancers of Death" and
"Soldiers of the Blessed Heart of Mary." These are often placed under
the sceptre of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as the national emblem.
Boys of seven and old men of seventy stand on the sidewalks selling
lottery tickets; and the priest, with black beaver hat, the brim of
which has a diameter of two feet, is always to be seen. One of these
priests met a late devotee, but now a follower of Christ through
missionary effort, and said: "Good morning, _Daughter of the Evil
One_!" "Good morning, _Father_," she replied.
The cemetery is one of the finest on the continent, and is well worth a
visit. Very few of Montevideo's dead are _buried_. The coffins of the
rich are zinc-lined, and provided with a glass in the lid. All caskets
are placed in niches in the high wall which surrounds the cemetery.
These mural niches are six or eight feet deep in the wall, and each one
has a marble tablet for the name of the deposited one. By means of a
large portable ladder and elevator combined, the coffins are raised
from the ground. At anniversaries of the death the tomb is filled with
flowers, and candles are lit inside, while a wreath is hung on the
door. A favorite custom is to attend mass on Sunday morning, then visit
the cemetery, and spend the afternoon at the bull-fights.
NATIVE HOUSES AND HABITS.
Uruguay is essentially a pastoral country, and the finest animals of
South America are there raised. It is said that "Uruguay's pasture
lands could feed all the cattle of the world, and sheep grow fat at 50
to the acre." In 1889, when I first went there, there were thirty-two
millions of horned cattle grazing on a thousand hills. Liebig's famous
establishments at Fray Bentos, two hundred miles north of Montevideo,
employs six hundred men, and kills one thousand bullocks a day.
Uruguay has some good roads, and the land is wire-fenced in all
directions. The rivers are crossed on large flat-bottomed boats called
_balsas_. These are warped across by a chain, and carry as many as ten
men and horses in one trip. The roads are in many places thickly strewn
with bones of dead animals, dropped by the way, and these are picked
clean by the vultures. No sooner does an animal lie down to die than,
streaming out of the infinite space, which a moment before has been a
lifeless world of blue ether, there come lines of vultures, and soon
white bones are all that are left.
On the fence-posts one sees many nests of the _casera_ (housebuilder)
bird, made of mud. These have a dome-shaped roof, and are divided by a
partition inside into chamber and ante-chamber. By the roadside are
hovels of the natives not a twentieth part so well-built or rain-tight.
Fleas are so numerous in these huts that sometimes, after spending a
night in one, it would have been impossible to place a five-cent piece
on any part of my body that had not been bitten by them. Scorpions come
out of the wood they burn on the earthen floor, and monster cockroaches
nibble your toes at night. The thick, hot grass roofs of the ranches
harbor centipedes, which drop on your face as you sleep, and bite
alarmingly. These many-legged creatures grow to the length of eight or
nine inches, and run to and fro with great speed. Well might the little
girl, on seeing a centipede for the first time, ask: "What is that
queer-looking thing, with about a million legs?" Johnny wisely replied:
"That's a millennium. It's something like a centennial, only its has
more legs."
After vain attempts to sleep, you rise, and may see the good wife
cleaning her only plate for you by rubbing it on her greasy hair and
wiping it with the bottom of her chemise. Ugh! Proceeding on the
journey, it is a common sight to see three or four little birds sitting
on the backs of the horned cattle getting their breakfast, which I hope
they relish better than I often did.
A WAKE, AND HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN.
During my journey I was asked: Would I like to go to the wake held that
night at the next house, three miles away? After supper, horses were
saddled up and away we galloped. Quite a number had already gathered
there. We found the dead man lying on a couple of sheepskins, in the
centre of a mud-walled and mud-floored room. "No useless coffin
enclosed his breast," nor was he wound in either sheet or shroud. There
he lay, fully attired, even to his shoes. Four tallow candles lighted
up the gloom, and these were placed at his head and feet. His clammy
hands were reverently folded over his breast, whilst entwined in his
fingers was a bronze cross and rosary, that St. Peter, seeing his
devotion, might, without questioning, admit him to a better world. The
scene was weird beyond description. Outside, the wind moaned a sad
dirge; great bats and black moths, the size of birds, flitted about in
the midnight darkness. These, ever and anon, made their way inside and
extinguished the candles, which flickered and dripped as they fitfully
shone on the shrunken features of the corpse. He had been a reprobate
and an assassin, but, luckily for him, a pious woman, not wishing to
see him die "in his sins," had sprinkled _Holy Water_ on him. The said
"Elixir of Life" had been brought eighty miles, and was kept in her
house to use only in extreme cases. The poor woman had paid the price
of a cow for the bottle of water, but the priest had declared that it
was an effectual soul-saver, and they never doubted its efficacy.
Around the corpse was a throng of women, and they all chattered as
women are apt to do. The men, standing around the door, talked of their
horse-races, fights or anything else. For some hours I heard no
allusion to the dead, but as the night wore on the prophetess of the
people came forth.
If my advent among them had caused a stir, the entrance of this old
woman caused a bustle; even the dead man seemed to salute her, or was
it only my imagination--for I was in a strangely sensitive mood--that
pictured it? As she slowly approached, leaning heavily on a rough,
thick staff, all the females present bent their knees. Now prayers were
going to be offered up for the dead, and the visible woman was to act
as interceder with the invisible one in heaven. After being assisted to
her knees, the old woman, in a cracked, yet loud, voice, began. "_Santa
Maria, ruega por nosotros, ahora, y en la hora de nuestra muerte!_"
(Holy Mary pray for us now, and in the hour of our death!) This was
responded to with many gesticulations and making of crosses by the
numerous females around her. The prayers were many and long, and must
have lasted perhaps an hour; then all arose, and máté and cigars were
served. Men and women, even boys and girls, smoked the whole night
through, until around the Departed was nothing but bluish clouds.
The natives are so fond of wakes that when deaths do not occur with
great frequency, the bones of "grandma" are dug up, and she is prayed
and smoked over once more. The digging up of the dead is often a simple
matter, for the corpse is frequently just carried into the bush, and
there covered with prickly branches.
THE SNAKE'S HISTORY.
I met with a snake, of a whitish color, that appeared to have two
heads. Never being able to closely examine this strange reptile, I
cannot positively affirm that it possesses the two heads, but the
natives repeatedly affirmed to me that it does, and certainly both ends
are, or seem to be, exactly alike. In the Book of Genesis the serpent
is described as "a beast," but for its temptation of Eve it was
condemned to crawl on its belly and become a reptile. A strange belief
obtains among the people that all serpents must not only be killed, but
_put into a fire_. If there is none lit, they will kindle one on
purpose, for it must be burned. As the outer skin comes off, it is
declared, the four legs, now under it, can be distinctly seen.
A GIRL'S NEW BIRTH AND TRANSLATION.
At Rincon I held a series of meetings in a mud hut. Men and women, with
numerous children, used to gather on horseback an hour before the time
for opening. A little girl always brought her three-legged stool and
squatted in front of me. The rest appropriated tree-trunks and
bullocks' skulls. The girl referred to listened to the Gospel story as
though her life depended upon it, as indeed it did! When at Rincon only
a short time, the child desired me to teach her how to pray, and she
clasped her hands reverently. "Would Jesus save _me_?" she asked. "Did
He die for me--_me_? Will He save me now?" The girl _believed_, and
entered at once into the family of God.
One day a man on horseback, tears streaming down his cheeks, galloped
up to my hut. It was her father. His girl was dead. She had gone into
the forest, and, feeling hungry, had eaten some berries; they were
poisonous, and she had come home to die. Would I bury her? Shortly
afterwards I rode over to the hovel where she had lived. Awaiting me
were the broken-hearted parents. A grocery box had been secured, and
this rude coffin was covered with pink cotton. Four horses were yoked
in a two-wheeled cart, the parents sat on the casket, and I followed on
horseback to the nearest cemetery, sixteen miles away. There, in a
little enclosure, we lowered the girl into her last earthly
resting-place, in the sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection.
She had lived in a house where a cow's hide served for a door, but she
had now entered the "pearly gates." The floor of her late home was
mother earth; what a change to be walking the "streets of gold!" Some
day, "after life's fitful fever," I shall meet her again, not a poor,
ragged half-breed girl, but glorified, and clothed in His righteousness.
HOW I DID NOT LOSE MY EYES.
One day I was crossing a river, kneeling on my horse's back, when he
gave a lurch and threw me into the water. Gaining the bank, and being
quite alone, I stripped off my wet clothes and waited for the sun to
dry them. The day was hot and sultry, and, feeling tired, I covered
myself up with the long grass and went to sleep. How long I lay I
cannot tell, but suddenly waking up, I found to my alarm that several
large vultures, having thought me dead, were contemplating me as their
next meal! Had my sleep continued a few moments longer, the rapacious
birds would have picked my eyes out, as they invariably do before
tearing up their victim. All over the country these birds abound, and I
have counted thirty and forty tearing up a living, quivering animal.
Sometimes, for mercy's sake, I have alighted and put the suffering
beast out of further pain. Before I got away they have been fighting
over it again in their haste to suck the heart's blood.
A BACHELOR RABBIT.
The pest of Australia is the rabbit, but, strange to say, I never found
one in South America. In their place is the equally destructive
_viscacha_ or prairie dog--a much larger animal, probably three or four
times the size, having very low, broad head, little ears, and thick,
bristling whiskers. His coat is gray and white, with a mixture of
black. To all appearance this is a ferocious beast, with his two front
tusk-like teeth, about four inches long, but he is perfectly harmless.
The viscacha makes his home, like the rabbit, by burrowing in the
ground, where he remains during daylight. The faculty of acquisition in
these animals must be large, for in their nightly trips they gather and
bring to the mouth of their burrow anything and everything they can
possibly move. Bones, manure, stones and feathers are here collected,
and if the traveller accidentally dropped his watch, knife or
handkerchief, it would be found and carried to adorn the viscacha's
doorway, if those animals were anywhere near.
The lady reader will be shocked to learn that the head of the viscacha
family, probably copying a bad example from the ostrich, his neighbor,
is also very unamiable with his "better half," and inhabits bachelor's
quarters, which he keeps all to himself, away from his family. The food
of this strange dog-rabbit is roots, and his powerful teeth are well
fitted to root them up. At the mouth of their burrows may often be seen
little owls, which have ejected the original owners and themselves
taken possession. They have a strikingly saucy look, and possess the
advantage of being able to turn their heads right around while the body
remains immovable. Being of an inquisitive nature, they stare at every
passer-by, and if the traveller quietly walks around them he will smile
at the grotesque power they have of turning their head. When a young
horse is especially slow in learning the use of the reins, I have known
the cowboy smear the bridle with the brains of this clever bird, that
the owl's facility in turning might thus be imparted to it.
Another peculiar animal is the _comadreka_, which resembles the
kangaroo in that it is provided with a bag or pouch in which to carry
its young ones. I have surprised these little animals (for they are
only of rabbit size) with their young playing around them, and have
seen the mother gather them into her pouch and scamper away.
DRINKING WATER, SAINTS AND THE VIRGIN.
In Uruguay it is the custom for all, on approaching a house, to call
out, "Holy Mary the Pure!" and until the inmate answers: "Conceived
without sin!" not a step farther must be made by the visitor. At a hut
where I called there was a baby hanging from the wattle roof in a cow's
hide, and flies covered the little one's eyes. On going to the well for
a drink I saw that there was a cat and a rat in the water, but the
people were drinking it! When smallpox breaks out because of such
unsanitary conditions, I have known them to carry around the image of
St. Sebastian, that its divine presence might chase away the sickness.
The dress of the Virgin is often borrowed from the church, and worn by
the women, that they may profit by its healing virtues. A crucifix hung
in the house keeps away evil spirits.
The people were very _religious_, and no rain having fallen for five
months, had concluded to carry around a large image of the Virgin they
had, and show her the dry crops. I rode on, but did not get wet!
NO NEED OF THE DOCTOR OR VET.
"A poor girl got very severely burnt, and the remedy applied was a
poultice of mashed ears of _viscacha_. The burn did not heal, and so a
poultice of pig's dung was put on. When we went to visit the girl, the
people said it was because they had come to our meetings that the girl
did not get better. A liberal cleansing, followed by the use of boracic
acid, has healed the wound. Another case came under our notice of a
woman who suffered from a gathering in the ear, and the remedy applied
was a negro's curl fried in fat."
To cure animals of disease there are many ways. Mrs. Nieve boasted
that, by just saying a few cabalistic words over a sick cow, she could
heal it. A charm put on the top of the enclosure where the animals are
herded will keep away sickness. To cure a bucking horse all that is
necessary is to pull out its eyebrows and spit in its face. Let a lame
horse step on a sheepskin, cut out the piece, and carry it in your
pocket; if this can't be done, make a cross with tufts of grass, and
the leg will heal. For ordinary sickness tie a dog's head around the
horse's neck. If a horse has pains in the stomach, let him smell your
shirt.
A RACE FOR INFORMATION.
Uruguay is said to have averaged a revolution every two years for
nearly a century, so in times of revolutionary disturbance the younger
children are often set to watch the roads and give timely warning, that
the father or elder brother may effect an escape. The said persons may
then mount their fleetest horse and be out of sight ere the recruiting
sergeant arrives. Being one day perplexed, and in doubt whether I was
on my right road, I made towards a boy I had descried some distance
away, to ask him. No sooner did the youth catch sight of me than he set
off at a long gallop away from me; why, I could not tell, as they are
generally so interested at the sight of a stranger. Determined not to
be outdone, and feeling sure that without directions I could not safely
continue the journey, I put spurs to my horse and tried to overtake
him. As I quickened my pace he looked back, and, seeing me gain upon
him, urged his horse to its utmost speed. Down hill and up hill,
through grass and mud and water, the race continued. A sheepskin fell
from his saddle, but he heeded it not as he went plunging forward.
Human beings in those latitudes were very few, and if I did not catch
him I might be totally lost for days; so I went clattering on over his
sheepskin, and then over his wooden saddle, the fall of which only made
his horse give a fresh plunge forward as he lay on its neck. Thus we
raced for at least three miles, until, tired out and breathless, I gave
up in despair.
Concluding that my fleet-footed but unamiable young friend had
undoubtedly some place in view, I continued in the same direction, but
at a more respectable pace. Shortly afterwards I arrived at a very
small hut, built of woven grass and reeds, which I presumed was his
home. Making for the open door, I clapped my hands, but received no
answer. The hut was certainly inhabited--of that I saw abundant
signs--but where were the people? I dare not get down from my horse;
that is an insult no native would forgive; so I slowly walked around
the house, clapping my hands and shouting at the top of my voice. Just
as I was making the circuit for the third time, I descried another and
a larger house, hidden in the trees some distance away, and thither I
forthwith bent my steps. There I learned that I had been taken for a
recruiting sergeant, and the inhabitants had hidden themselves when the
boy galloped up with the message of my approach.
I FIND DIAMONDS.
"For one shall grasp and one resign.
One drink life's rue, and one its wine;
And God shall make the balance good."
Encamped on the banks of the Black River, idly turning up the soil with
the stock of my riding-whip, I was startled to find what I believed to
be real diamonds! Beautifully white, transparent stones they were, and,
rising to examine them closely in the sunlight, I was more than ever
convinced of the richness of my find. Was it possible that I had
unwittingly discovered a diamond field? Could it be true that, after
years of hardship, I had found a fortune? I was a rich man--oh, the
enchanting thought! No need now to toil through scorching suns. I could
live at ease. As I sat with the stones glistening in the light before
my eyes, my brain grew fevered. Leaving my hat and coat on the ground,
I ran towards my horse, and, vaulting on his bare back, wildly galloped
to and fro, that the breezes might cool my fevered head. Rich? Oh, how
I had worked and striven! Life had hitherto been a hard fight. When I
had gathered together a few dollars, I had been prostrated with
malarial or some other fever, and they had flown. After two or three
months of enforced idleness I had had to start the battle of life
afresh with diminished funds. Now the past was dead; I could rest from
strife. Rest! How sweet it sounded as I repeated aloud the precious
word, and the distant echoes brought back the word, Rest!
I was awakened from my day dreams by being thrown from my horse! Hope
for the future had so taken possession of me that the present was
forgotten. I had not seen the caves of the prairie dog, but my horse
had given a sudden start aside to avoid them, and I found myself
licking the dust. Bather a humiliating position for a man to be in who
had just found unlimited wealth; Somewhat subdued, I made my way back
to my solitary encampment.
Well, how shall I conclude this short but pregnant chapter of my life?
Suffice it to say that my idol was shattered! The stones were found to
be of little worth.
"The flower that smiles to-day,
To-morrow dies;
All that we wish to stay
Tempts, and then flies."
A MAN WITH TWO NOSES AND TWO MOUTHS.
I was lost one day, and had been sitting in the grass for an hour or
more wondering what I should do, when the sound of galloping hoofs
broke the silence. On looking around, to my horror, I saw a _something_
seated on a fiery horse tearing towards me! What could it be? Was it
human? Could the strange-looking being who suddenly reined up his horse
before me be a man? A man surely, but possessing two noses, two mouths,
and two hare-lips. A hideous sight! I shuddered as I looked at him. His
left eye was in the temple, and he turned it full upon me, while with
the other he seemed to glance toward the knife in his belt. When he
rode up I had saluted him, but he did not return the recognition.
Feeling sure that the country must be well known to him, I offered to
reward him if he would act as my guide. The man kept his gleaming eye
fixed upon me, but answered not a word. Beginning to look at the matter
in rather a serious light, I mounted my horse, when he grunted at me in
an unintelligible way, which showed me plainly that he was without the
power of speech. He turned in the direction I had asked him to take,
and we started off at a breakneck speed, which his fiery horse kept up.
I cannot say he followed his nose, or the reader might ask me which
nose, but he led me in a straight line to an eminence, from whence he
pointed out the estancia I was seeking. The house was still distant,
yet I was not sorry to part with my strange guide, who seemed
disinclined to conduct me further. I gave him his fee, and he grunted
his thanks and left me to pursue my journey more leisurely. A hut I
came to had been struck by lightning, and a woman and her child had
been buried in the debris. Inquiring the particulars, I was informed
that the woman was herself to blame for the disaster. The saints, they
told me, have a particular aversion to the _ombu_ tree, and this daring
Eve had built her house near one. The saints had taken _spite_ at this
act of bravado, and destroyed both mother and daughter. Moral: Heed the
saints.
A FLEET-FOOTED DEER.
One day an old man seriously informed me that in those parts there was
a deer which neither he nor any other one had been able to catch. Like
the Siamese twins, it was two live specimens in one. When I asked why
it was impossible to catch the animal, he informed me that it had eight
legs with which to run. Four of the legs came out of the back, and,
when tired with using the four lower ones, it just turned over and ran
with the upper set. I did not see this freak, so add the salt to your
taste, O reader.
I SLEEP WITH THE RATS.
Hospitality is a marked and beautiful feature of the Uruguayan people.
At whatever time I arrived at a house, although a stranger and a
foreigner, I was most heartily received by the inmates. On only one
occasion, which I will here relate, was I grudgingly accommodated, and
that was by a Brazilian living on the frontier. The hot sun had
ruthlessly shone on me all day as I waded through the long arrow grass
that reached up to my saddle. The scorching rays, pitiless in their
intensity, seemed to take the energy from everything living. All
animate creation was paralyzed. The relentless ball of fire in the
heavens, pouring down like molten brass, appeared to be trying to set
the world on fire; and I lay utterly exhausted on my horse's neck, half
expecting to see all kindled in one mighty blaze! I had drunk the hot,
putrid water of the hollows, which did not seem to quench my thirst
any, but perhaps did help to keep me from drying up and blowing away.
My tongue was parched and my lips dried together. Fortunately, I had a
very quiet horse, and when I could no longer bear the sun's burning
rays I got down for a few moments and crept under him.
Shelter there was none. The copious draughts of evil-smelling water I
had drunk in my raging thirst brought on nausea, and it was only by
force of will that I kept myself from falling, when on an eminence I
joyfully sighted the Brazilian estancia. Hope then revived in me. My
knowing horse had seen the house before me, and without any guidance
made straight towards it at a quicker pace. Well he knew that houses in
those desolate wastes were too far apart to be passed unheeded by, and
I thoroughly concurred in his wisdom. As I drew up before the lonely
place my tongue refused to shout "Ave Maria," but I clapped my
perspiring hands, and soon had the satisfaction of hearing footsteps
within. Visions of shade and of meat and drink and rest floated before
my eyes when I saw the door opened. A coal-black face peeped out,
which, in a cracked, broken voice, I addressed, asking the privilege to
dismount. Horror of horrors, I had not even been answered ere the door
was shut again in my face! Get down without permission I dare not. The
house was a large edifice, built of rough, undressed stones, and had a
thick, high wall of the same material all around.
Were the inmates fiends that they let me sit there, knowing well that
there was no other habitation within miles? As the minutes slowly
lengthened out, and the door remained closed, my spirits sank lower and
lower. After a silence of thirty-five minutes, the man again made his
appearance, and, coming right out this time, stared me through and
through. After this close scrutiny, which seemed to satisfy him, but
elicited no response to a further appeal from me, he went to an
outlying building, and, bringing a strong hide lasso, tied it around my
horse's neck. Not until that was securely fastened did he invite me to
dismount. Presuming the lasso was lent me to tie out my horse, I led
him to the back of the house. When I returned, my strange, unwilling
host was again gone, so I lay down on a pile of hides in the shade of
the wall, and, utterly tired out, with visions of banquets floating
before my eyes, I dropped off to sleep.
Perhaps an hour afterwards, I awoke to find a woman, black as night,
bending over me. Not seeing a visitor once in three months, her
feminine curiosity had impelled her to come and examine me. Seemingly
more amiable than her husband, she spoke to me, but in a strange,
unmusical language, which I could not understand; and then she, too,
left me. As evening approached, another inmate of the house made his
appearance. He was, I could see, of a different race, and, to my joy, I
found that he spoke fluently in Spanish. Conducting me to the
aforementioned outhouse, a place built of canes and mud, he told me
that later on a piece of meat would be given me, and that I could sleep
on the sheepskins. I got the meat, and I slept on the skins. Fatigued
as I was, I passed a wretched night, for dozens of huge rats ran over
my body, bit my hands, and scratched my face, the whole night long.
Morning at last dawned, and, with the first streaks of coming day, I
saddled my horse, and, shaking the dust of the Brazilian estancia off
my feet, resumed my journey.
THE BURSTING OF A MAN.
A friend of mine came upon an ostrich's nest. The bird was not near,
so, dismounting, he picked up an egg and placed it in an inside pocket
of his coat. Continuing the journey, the egg was forgotten, and the
horse, galloping along, suddenly tripped and fell. The rider was thrown
to the ground, where he lay stunned. Three hours afterwards
consciousness returned. As his weary eyes wandered, he noticed, with
horror, that his chest and side were thickly besmeared. With a cry of
despair, he lay back, groaning, "I have burst!" The presence of the egg
he had put in his pocket had quite passed from his mind!
I FIND A LONE SCOTSMAN.
One evening after a long day's journey, I reached a house, away near
the Brazilian frontier, and was surprised indeed to see that the owner
was a real live Scotsman. Great was my astonishment and pleasure at
receiving such a warm Scotch welcome. He was eighty miles away from any
village--alone in the mountains--and at the sight of me he wept like a
child. Never can I forget his anguish as he told me that his beloved
wife had died just a few days before, and that he had buried
her--"there in the glen." At the sight of a British face he had
completely broken down; but, pulling himself together, he conducted me
through into the courtyard, and the difficulty of my journey was
forgotten as we sat down to the evening meal.
Being anxious to hear the story of her who had presided at his
board, I bade him recount to me the sad circumstances.
She was a "bonnie lassie," and he had "lo'ed her muckle." There they
had lived for twelve years, shut out from the rest of the world, yet
content. Hand in hand they had toiled in joy and sorrow, when no rain
fell for eight long months, and their cattle died; or when increase was
good, and flocks and herds fat. Side by side they had stood alone in
the wild tangle of the wilderness. And now, when riches had been
gathered and comfort could be had, his "lassie" had left him, and "Oh!
he grudged her sair to the land o' the leal!" Being so far removed from
his fellows, he had been compelled to perform the sacred offices of
burial himself. Surrounded by kind hearts and loving sympathizers, it
is sad indeed to lose our loved ones. But how inexpressibly more sad it
is when, away in loneliness, a man digs the cold clay tomb for all that
is left of his only joy! When our dear ones sleep in "God's acre"
surrounded by others it is sad. But how much more heartbreaking is it
to bury the darling wife in the depths of the mountains alone, where a
strong stone wall must be built around the grave to keey the wild
beasts from tearing out the remains! Only those who have been so
situated can picture the solemnity of such a scene.
At his urgent request, I promised I would accompany him to the
spot--sanctified by his sorrow and watered by his tears--where he had
laid his dear one. Early the following morning a native servant saddled
two horses, and we rode in silence towards the hallowed ground. In
about thirty minutes we came in view of the quiet tomb. Encircling the
grave he had built a high stone wall. When he silently opened the gate,
I saw that, although all the pasture outside was dry and withered, that
on the mound was beautifully green and fresh. Had he brought water from
his house, for there was none nearer, or was it watered by his tears?
His greatest longing was, as he had explained to me the previous night,
that she should have a Christian burial, and if I would read some
chapter over her grave he would feel more content, he said. As with
bared heads we reverently knelt on the mound, I now complied with his
request. Then, for the first time in the world's history, the trees
that surrounded us listened to the Christian doctrine of a resurrection
from the dead. "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in
incorruption." And the leaves whispered to the mountains beyond, which
gave back the words: "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a
spiritual body."
Never have I seen a man so broken with grief as was that lone Scotsman.
There were no paid mourners or idle sightseers. There was no show of
sorrow while the heart remained indifferent and untouched. It was the
spectacle of a lone man who had buried his all and was left--
"To linger when the sun of life,
The beam that gilds its path, is gone--
To feel the aching bosom's strife,
When Hope is dead and Love lives on."
As we knelt there, I spoke to the man about salvation from sin, and
unfolded God's plan of inheritance and reunions in the future life. The
Lord gave His blessing, and I left him next day rejoicing in the Christ
who said: "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live."
As the world moves forward, and man pushes his way into the waste
places of the earth, that lonely grave will be forgotten. Populous
cities will be built; but the doctrine the mountains then heard shall
live when the gloomy youth of Uruguay is forgotten.
THE WORD OF GOD CONTRASTED WITH THAT OF THE R. C. CHURCH.
"Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou
serve."--The Christ.
"Mary must be the first object of our worship, St. Joseph the
second."--Roman Catholic Catechism.
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of
anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God."
"I most firmly assert that the images of Christ and of the mother of
God, ever virgin, and also of the other saints, are to be had and
retained, and that due honor and veneration are to be given to
them."--Creed of Pope Pius IV.
"My glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven
images."--Jehovah.
"The saints reigning together with Christ are to be honored and
invocated; ... they offer prayers to God for us... their relics are to
be venerated."--Creed of Pope Pius IV.
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men--the man
Christ Jesus."--Paul.
"Mary is everything in heaven and earth, and we should adore her."--The
South American Priest.
"Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the
creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever."--Paul
"All power was given to her."--Peter Damian, Cardinal of Rome.
"Search the Scriptures."--The Christ.
"All who read the Bible should be stoned to death."--Pope Innocent III.
PART VI.
MARIOLATRY AND IMAGE WORSHIP.
[Illustration: OUR LADY OF GUADALOUPE. Many legacies are left to this
image.]
CHAPTER XIV.
MARIOLATRY AND IMAGE WORSHIP.
Before the light of Christianity dawned on ancient Rome, the Pantheon
contained goddesses many and gods many. Chief of these deities to
receive the worship of the people seems to have been Diana of the
Ephesians, a goddess whose image fell down from Jupiter; the celestial
Venus of Corinth, and Isis, sister to Osiris, the god of Egypt. These
popular images, so universally worshipped, were naturally the aversion
of the early followers of Christ. "The primitive Christians were
possessed with an unconquerable repugnance to the use and abuse of
images. The Jewish disciples were especially bitter against any but the
triune God receiving homage, but, by a slow, though inevitable,
progression, the honors of the original were transferred to the copy,
the devout Christian prayed before the image of a saint, and the pagan
rites of genuflexion, luminaries, and incense stole into the Christian
Church." [Footnote: Gibbons' "Rome."]
Having Paul's masterly epistle to the Romans, in the first chapter of
which he so distinctly portrays man's tendency to change "the glory of
the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man," and
worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed
forever, they were careful to remember that "God is a spirit," and to
be worshipped only in spirit. Peter, in his epistle to them, also wrote
of the One "whom having not seen ye love." As time wore on, however,
the original inclination of man to worship a god he could see and feel
(a trait seen all down the pages of history) asserted itself, and Mary,
the mother of Christ, took the place in the eye and the heart
previously occupied by her predecessors. [Footnote: Just as this work
goes to press, the dally papers of the world announce that the oldest
idol ever discovered has just been unearthed. The idol is a goddess,
who is holding an infant in her arms.] Being in possession of the Acts
of the Apostles, which plainly declares that Mary herself met with the
rest of the disciples "for prayer and supplication," and, knowing from
the four Gospels that no worship had been at first given to her, the
innovation was slow to find favor; but, in the year 431, the Council of
Ephesus decided that Mary was equal with God.
"After the ruin of paganism they were no longer restrained by the
apprehension of an odious parallel" in the idol worship. Symptoms of
degeneracy may be observed even in the first generations which adopted
and cherished this pernicious innovation. "The worship of images had
stolen into the Church by insensible degrees, and each petty step was
pleasing to the superstitious mind, as productive of comfort and
innocent of sin. But, in the beginning of the eighth century, in the
full magnitude of the abuse, the more timorous Greeks were awakened by
an apprehension that, under the mask of Christianity, they had restored
the religion of their fathers. They heard with grief and impatience the
name of 'idolaters,' the incessant charge of the Jews and Mahometans,
who derived from the Law and the Koran an immortal hatred to graven
images and all the relative worship." [Footnote: Gibbons' "Rome."]
It should be a most humiliating fact to the Romanists to have it
recorded as authentic history that "the great miracle-working Madonna
of Rome, worshipped in the Church of St. Augustina, is only a pagan
statue of the wicked Agrippina with her infant Nero in her arms.
Covered with jewels and votive offerings, her foot encased in gold,
because the constant kissing has worn away the stone, this haughty and
evil-minded Roman matron bears no possible resemblance to the pure
Virgin Mary; yet crowds are always at her feet, worshipping her. The
celebrated bronze statue of St. Peter, which is adored in the great
Church, and whose feet are entirely kissed away by the lips of
devotees, is but an antique statue of Jupiter, an idol of paganism. All
that was necessary to make the pagan god a Christian saint was to turn
the thunderbolt in his uplifted right hand to two keys, and put a
gilded halo around his head. Yet, on any Church holiday, you will see
thousands passing solemnly before this image (arrayed in gorgeous
robes, with the Pope's mitre on its head), and after bowing before it,
rise on their toes and repeatedly kiss its feet." [Footnote: Vickers'
"Rome"]
This method of receiving heathen deities as saints has been common all
over South America, and many Indian idols may be seen in the churches,
now adored as Roman Catholic saints, while the worship of Mary has
grown to an alarming extent. In Lima's largest church, printed right
over the chancel, is the motto, "Glory to Mary."
In Cordoba, the Argentine seat of learning--a city so old that
university degrees were being given there when the Pilgrim Fathers
landed on the shores of New England--charms, amulets and miniature
images of the Virgin are manufactured in large numbers. These are worn
around the neck, and are supposed to work great wonders. As may be
understood, the workers in these crafts stand up for Romanism, and are
willing to cry themselves hoarse for Mary, just as the people of old
cried for Diana of the Ephesians.
It is often told of the Protestant worker that he keeps behind his door
an image of the Blessed Virgin, and, when entering or leaving the
house, he spits in her face. No pains are spared to stamp out any
dissenting work, and the missionary is made a by-word of opprobrium. I
have repeatedly had the doors and windows of my preaching places broken
and wrecked. The priests have incited the vulgar crowd to hoot and yell
at me, and on these occasions I have been both shot at and stoned.
In Cordoba, there is a very costly image of Mary. Once every year it is
brought out into the public square, while all the criminals from the
state prison stand in line. By a move of her head she is supposed to
point out the one whom she thinks should be given his liberty.
From Goldsmith's "Rome" we learn that the _vestal virgins_ possessed
the power to pardon any criminal whom they met on the road to
execution. Thus does Romanism follow paganism. With the Virgin is often
the image of St. Peter. The followers of this saint affirm that they
are always warned, three days before they die, to prepare for death.
St. Peter comes in person and knocks on the wall beside their bed.
As the virgin, Diana, was the guardian of Ephesus, so the Virgin Mary
protects Argentina.
The Bishop of Tucuman, in a recent speech, said: "Argentina is now safe
against possible invasion. The newly-crowned _Lady of the Miracles_
defends the north, and the _Lady of Lujan_ guards the south."
A writer in _The Times of Argentina_ naively asks: "If these can safely
defy and defeat all comers, is there any further necessity for public
expenditure in military matters?"
South America groans under the weight of a mediaeval religion which has
little to do with spiritual life. In Spain and Portugal, perhaps the
two most deluded of European lands, I have seen great darkness, but
even there the priest is often good, and at least puts on a veneer of
piety. In South America this is not generally considered necessary.
Frequently he is found to be the worst man in the village. If you speak
to him of his dissolute life, he may tell you that he, being a priest,
may do things you, a layman, must not. In Spain, Portugal and Italy,
next door to highly enlightened countries, the priest cannot, for very
shame, act as he is free to do in South America. That great continent
has been ruled and governed only by Roman Catholics, without outside
interference, and Romanists in other lands do not, and would not,
believe the practices there sanctioned.
_"You ask about this nation and the Roman Catholic Church," said the
American Minister in one South American capital. "Well, the nation is
rotten, thanks to the Church and to Spain. The Church has taught lies
and uncleanness, and been the bulwark of injustice and wrong for 300
years. How could you expect anything else?" "Lies," said a priest to a
friend, who told the remark to us, "what do lies have to do with
religion." [Footnote: "Missions In South America," Robt. E. Speer.]
A missionary writes: "Recently the Roman bishop and several other
priests visited the various towns. It was a business trip, for they
charged a good price for baptisms, confirmations, etc., and carried
away thousands of dollars. In Santa Cruz a disgraceful scene was
publicly enacted in the church by the resident priest and one of the
visitors. Both saw a woman drop a twenty-five cent piece into the pan;
each grabbed for it, and then they fought before the people! The
village priest wanted me to take his photo, but he was so drunk I had
to help him put on his official robes. He was taken standing in the
doorway of the church beside an image of the Virgin."
"There wan a feast in honor of the image of the Holy Spirit in the
church. This is a figure of a man with a beard; beside it sits a figure
of Christ, and between them a dove. Great crowds of people attend these
feasts to buy, sell and drink. On a common in the town a large altar
was erected, and another image of the Holy Spirit placed, and before it
danced Indians fantastically dressed to represent monkeys, tigers,
lions and deer. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were days of debauchery.
Men, women and children were intoxicated; the jails were full, and
extravagances of all kinds were practised by masked Indians. The
vessels in the church are of gold and silver, and the images each have
a man to care for them. The patron saint is a large image of the
Virgin, dressed in clothing that cost $2,500."
Since returning to more civilized lands, I have been asked: But do they
really worship the Virgin, or God, through her? I answer that in
enlightened countries where Roman Catholicism prevails, the latter may
be true, but that in South America, discovered and governed by
Romanists from the earliest times, millions of people worship the
Virgin without any reference to God. She is the great goddess of the
people, and while one may see her image in every church, it is seldom
indeed that God is honored with a place--then He may be seen as an old
man with a long white beard. What kind of God they think He is may be
seen from the words of Missionary F. Glass: "I found a 'festa' in full
swing, called the 'Feast of the Divine Eternal Father,' and a drunken
crowd were marching round, with trumpets, drums and a sacred banner,
collecting alms professedly on His behalf." [Footnote: "Through the
Heart of Brazil"]
Mary is the one to whom the vast majority of people pray. They have
been taught to address supplications to her, and, being a woman, her
heart is considered more tender than a man's could be. During a drought
their earnest prayer for rain was answered in an unexpected way, for
not only did she send it, but with such accompanying violence that it
washed away the church!
In some churches the mail-box stands in a corner, and _"Letters to the
Virgin"_ is printed over it. There are always many young women to be
seen before the image of St. Anthony, for he is the patron of
marriages, and many a timid confession of love is dropped into the
letter-box, and it often happens that a marriage is arranged as a
result. The superstitious maiden believes that her letter goes directly
to the Virgin or to the saint in his heavenly mansion, and she has no
suspicion that it is read by the parish priest.
Saints are innumerable and their powers extraordinary. When travelling
in Entre Rios, I learned that St. Ramon was an adept in guiding the
path of the thunderbolt. A terrific storm swept across the country, and
a woman, afraid for her house, placed his image leaning against the
outside wall, that he might be able to see and direct the elements. The
tempest raged, and as though to show the saint's utter helplessness,
the end of the house was struck by lightning and set on fire. Little
damage was done, but I smiled when the indignant woman, after the storm
ceased, soundly thrashed the image for not attending to its duty.
While preaching in the town of Quilmes, a poor deluded worshipper of
Rome "turned from idols to serve the living and true God." He had been
a sincere believer in St. Nicolas, and implicitly believed the absurd
account of that saint having raised to life three children who had been
brutally murdered by their father and secreted in a barrel. He brought
me a picture of this wonder-worker tapping the barrel, and the little
ones in the act of coming out alive and well.
One familiar with Romanism in South America has said: "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 Romish world attempt to apologize for or
even defend Romanism. Romanism is not Christianity."
_The Church deliberately lies about the Ten Commandments, entirely
omitting the second and dividing the tenth in order to make the
requisite number. Can a Church which deceives the people teach them
true religion? Is the preaching of Mary the preaching of Christ?_
[Footnote: "Mission In South America," Robert B. Speer.]
_"There is not an essential truth which is not distorted, covered up,
neutralized, poisoned,_ and completely nullified by the doctrines of
the Romish system." [Footnote: Bishop Neely's "South America."]
A missionary in Cartago writes: "I must tell you about the annual
procession of the wonderful miracle-working image called 'Our Lady
Queen of the Angels,' through the principal streets of the town.
Picture to yourselves, if you can, hundreds of people praying,
worshipping, and doing homage to this little stone idol, for which a
special church has been built. To this image many people come with
their diseases, for she is supposed to have power to cure all. On a
special day of the procession, people receive pardon for particular
sins if they only carry out the bidding of 'Our Lady,' She seems to
order some extraordinary things, such as crawling in the streets with
big rocks on the head after the procession, or painting one's self all
the colors of the rainbow. One man was painted black, while others wore
wigs and beards of a long parasitic grass which grows from the trees.
Some were dressed in sackcloth, and all were doing penance for some sin
or crime. This little image was carried by priests, incense was burned
before her, and at intervals in the journey she was put on lovely
altars, on which sat little girls dressed in blue and green, with wings
of white, representing angels. Some weeks ago 'Our Lady' was carried
through the streets to collect money for the bull-fights got up in her
honor. She is said to be very fond of these fights, which are immoral
and full of bloody cruelty. This year the bulls were to kill the men,
or the men the bulls, and the awful drunkenness I cannot describe.
After this collection the bishop came over here, and is said to have
taken away some of the money. Soon after he died, and the people here
say that 'Our Lady' was angry with him."
From a recent list of prayers used in the Church of Rome I select the
following expressions:
"Queen of heaven and earth, Mother of God,
my Sovereign Mistress, I present myself before
you as a poor mendicant before a mighty Queen.
"All is subject to Mary's empire, even God
Himself. Jesus has rendered Mary omnipotent:
the one is omnipotent by nature, the other
omnipotent by grace.
"You, O Holy Virgin, have over God the authority
of a mother.
"It is impossible that a true servant of Mary
should be damned.
"My soul is in the hands of Mary, so that if
the Judge wishes to condemn me the sentence
must pass through this clement Queen, and she
knows how to prevent its execution.
"We, Holy Virgin, hope for grace and salvation
from you.
"Dispensatrix of Divine Grace."
How history repeats itself! How hard paganism is to kill! The ancient
Egyptians worshipped the "Queen of Heaven." Jeremiah, as far back as
587 B.C., prophesied desolation to Judah for having "burned incense to
the Queen of Heaven," and poured out "drink offerings" unto her, and
"made cakes to worship her."--Jer. xliv. 17-19.
Of the _wise_ men (Matthew ii.) we read: "And when they were come into
the house, they saw the young child with Mary, His mother, and fell
down and worshipped _Him_."
The South American version of Matthew 11:28, as may be seen carved on a
stone of the Jesuit Church in Cuzco, is: "Come to MARY, all you who are
laden with works, and weary beneath the weight of your sins, and _she_
will alleviate you," A literal translation of one of the prayers
offered to her reads: "Yes, beloved Mother! of thee I supplicate all
that is necessary for the salvation of my soul. Of whom should I ask
this grace but of Thee? To whom should a loving son go but to his
beloved Mother? To whom the weak sheep cry but to its divine
shepherdess? Whom seek the sick, but the celestial doctor? Whom invoke
those in affliction but the mother of consolation? Hear me then, Holy
Queen!"
The statues of the "Queen of Heaven" are often of great magnificence,
the dress of one which I know having cost $2,000. In the poor Indian
churches a bag of maize leaves, tied near the top to make a neck, and
above that an Indian physiognomy, painted with some vegetable dye,
serves the same purpose. The Bishop of La Serena, in Chili, has
received as much as $40,000 a year for keeping up the revered image in
that church, and these images _are worshipped_. Bequests are often left
to them, and a popular one will receive many legacies annually.
To be just, I must mention that in the arms of this "Mother of God"
there is, almost invariably, the child Jesus, but I must also state
that to tens of thousands this baby never grew to manhood, but went up
to heaven in His mother's arms. What a caricature of Christianity! Paul
said: "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain." "Make Jesus a perpetual child, and Mariolatry
becomes lower than Chinese ancestral worship." If He, as a child, was
translated to heaven, then He never died and rose again. Mary is, to
them, the Saviour. The child Jesus happened to be her son, and, as she
was the great divine one, He, through her, partook of divinity. _La
Cruz_, a weekly paper, published in Tucuman, Argentina, in its issue of
September 3rd, 1899, had the following article:
THE BIRTH OF MARY.
"Chroniclers say that such was the fury that possessed the devils in
hell, at the moment of the birth of the Most Blessed Virgin, that they
nearly broke loose.
"There was sounded in heaven the first cannon shot in salutation of
such a happy event. Lucifer gave such a jump that he got his horns
caught in the moon, and there, it is said, he remained hanging all the
day, like the insignificant fellow he is, to the great amusement of the
blessed ones above, who laughed to see such an uncommon sight.
"The other devils, who could not jump so high, remained below screaming
and kicking!, and tearing their apology for beards, when not otherwise
occupied in scratching and biting and burning the unfortunate condemned
ones.
"And all this because... it had been foretold that... a woman, yes, a
woman, should one day bruise their heads... and, according to all
appearances, this was the woman... and that she was that bright and
morning star that announces the appearance of the Sun.
"Why should we not therefore rejoice, as the angels in heaven rejoiced,
over that moat happy event--the birth of Mary."
From this it is clear that in Tucuman, at any rate--and this, by the
way, is an important city, of at least 75,000 inhabitants--they believe
that Mary, not Christ, came to bruise the serpent's head. The Roman
Catholic translation of Gen. 3:15 is: "_She_ shall bruise the serpent's
head." Thus, the reader sees, at the very commencement of God's Word,
and in the very first promise of a Saviour for fallen men, the eyes of
seeking souls are turned by Romanists from the Creator to the creature.
How these words are understood by Romanists is plainly seen by the
pictures of Mary trampling on the serpent, which are found everywhere
in Romish lands.
Under pictures of the Virgin, circulated everywhere, are the words: "We
have seen the star and are come to adore her." The prayers of adoration
run, "To the holiest birth of Mary, that in death it may bring about
our birth to eternal glory. Ave Maria!" "To the anguish of Mary, that
we may be made predestined children of her sorrows. Ave Maria!"
The veneration with which the Virgin Mary is regarded, and the power
with which she is invested, are thus told by many a priest: "Once God
was so angry with the world that He determined to destroy it, and was
about to execute His design when Mary said to Him: 'Give me back first
the milk with which I fed you, and then you can do so!' In this way she
averted the impending destruction."
"Millions in Brazil look upon the Virgin Mary as their Saviour. A book
widely circulated throughout northern Brazil says that Mary, when still
a mere child, went bodily to heaven and begged God to send Christ,
through her, into the world. Further on it says that Mary went again to
heaven to plead for sinners; and at the close Mary's will is given,
disposing of the whole world, and God the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit--the Trinity--act as the three witnesses to the will. How many
good Christians at home think Brazil is a Christian country?"
[Footnote: W. C. Porter.]
If the Bible were in circulation throughout South America, the populace
would be enabled to see that Christ is not the remorseless Judge but
the loving Saviour, and that it was He who purchased redemption for us.
Mary, according to Luke 1:47, was herself in need of a Saviour, and her
only recorded command was to do as He, the Christ, enjoined (See John
2:5). Not only Protestants, but not even Roman Catholics born in
Protestant countries, can understand what Romanism is in South America.
Christ said: "Search the Scriptures." Rome has done her best to destroy
the sacred volume. Papal bulls, said to have been _dictated by the Holy
Ghost_, have been issued by several Popes. Rome sometimes burned the
martyrs with a Bible hanging around their necks. Romanists showed their
hatred against Wycliffe, the first translator of the New Testament into
English, by unearthing his crumbling remains and burning them to ashes.
I have often seen the same spirit shown in South America.
A colporteur, writing of Scripture circulation in the Argentine, says:
"Many of the people are trying to get us ejected from the city. One, to
whom a Bible was offered, became so infuriated that he said: 'If it
were not such a public place? I would drown you in the river.'" A
missionary writes: "A young fellow called out after me, 'I renounce
you, Satan,' but as that is not my name, I did not turn back. During
the meeting on Sunday evening, the priest came riding up to the window,
and shouted that he would soon put a stop to us. Today he has had a
number of bills printed, warning his parishioners to have nothing to do
with us. To-night one of the bills was pasted on the door. Br. Arena
took it off, and no sooner had he the door shut than two shots were
fired, but they did no more harm than to pierce the door--thank God! I
have been informed that a number of young men will either beat or shoot
me, and that as I am the only one left they are going to make me leave,
too, by foul or by fair means. The following is a translation of the
priest's warning:
"To the faithful of Candelaria. Beware.
This parish has been invaded by one of the
wicked sects of Protestantism, and, having the
sacred duty of warning my parishioners, I give
them to understand that should any one of
them attend, even from mere curiosity, to hear
the false and pernicious propaganda, or accept
tracts or books that come from the propagators
of Protestantism, he will be excommunicated
from the true and only Church of Jesus Christ,
Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman, wherein resides
the infallible authority. Beware, then, oh, ye
faithful, and listen to your parish priest, who
advises you of the danger of your souls."
Yet with all this darkness and error, the majority are well contented,
and quite willing to obey "warnings" like this and the following,
published in _Los Principios_, of Cordoba:
"It has come to our knowledge that there are
amongst us various Protestant ministers, that
distribute with profusion leaflets containing their
erroneous doctrines and calumnies against the
Catholic Church. Some of these leaflets and booklets
have fallen into our hands, and in them we
have found confirmation of what we say above.
In one of these leaflets, for example, they treat
as idolatry the worship that we Catholics tribute
to the Mother of God. They treat as superstition
the veneration they have in Rome for the holy
staircase by which our Lord Jesus Christ went
up to the judgment hall of Pilate. They combat
the worship of images, relics, and things of that
description.
"Catholics ought to know that it is not lawful
for them to read these leaflets, nor the Sacred
Bible distributed by the Protestants, because it
has been falsified by them, accommodating its
texts to their errors. The Church has prohibited
its children many times these pernicious readings.
Let us reject, according to the counsel
of St. Paul, these ravenous wolves that come in
sheep's clothing, for they come to kill and to
destroy souls, thrusting them into the ways of
error, being separated from the true Church of
Jesus Christ, from which Luther, Calvin,
Zuinglio, Henry VIII, and others separated
themselves, of whom Cobbell, the Protestant
historian, himself has said: 'Never has the
world seem gathered into one century so many
perverse men as Luther, Zuiniglio, Calvin,' etc."
One acquainted with Spanish-American Romanism will smile at the
reference in the above article to the Bible having been falsified by
us. If the text of any version extant is compared with those which are
painted on the walls of the church in Celaya, there surely will be
found a great discrepancy. The following are translations:
"MARY, my mother, in thee I hope; save me from those that persecute
me."--Psalm vii. 1.
"Be thou exalted, O MARY, above the heavens, and thy glory above all
the earth."--Psalm lvii. 5.
'I will sing to MARY while I live."--Psalm civ. 33.
"Serve MARY with love, and rejoice in her with trembling."--Psalm ii.
11.
"Offer sacrifices of righteousness and trust in MARY."--Psalm iv. 5.
"Let everything that hath breath praise OUR LADY," etc., etc.
Protestant Christians pay almost all the entire cost of circulating
Roman Catholic translations of the Scriptures over the world. In the
versions of De Saci (French), Martini (Italian), Scio (Spanish),
Pereira (Portuguese), and Wuyka (Polish), we find in Matthew 3: 2, and
thirty-four other places, instead of "repent ye" the words, "do
penance," while in Matthew 3: 8, and some twenty other places, the word
that should be translated "repentance," is rendered _penance._ In the
following light way "penance" can be done, while "repentance" is not
thought of.
For sins against the Church the priest will often condemn the culprit
to wear a hideous garment for hours, or days, according to the gravity
of the offence, but this punishment can be worn by proxy. There are
always those who, for a consideration, will don the badge of disgrace.
What is called "Holy Week" gives proofs of the shallowness of Rome's
piety. Priests and people alike can weep, fast and faint, because their
God is suffering and dying; all traffic can stop because, they say,
"God has died"; but as soon as the death of Judas is announced, at noon
on Saturday, the noise of guns, pistols, squibs, etc., takes the place
of the death-like quiet that had reigned. After an hour or two silence
again prevails till Sunday morning, when all restraint is removed, and
people seem to make up for lost time. Drinking and kindred evils run
riot, and it is no uncommon thing on the Sunday night to see the people
drinking and dancing by the light of the candles they were burning to
their favorite virgin or saint.
In the large city of Lima, for centuries a very stronghold of image
worship, the interest in the Church has of late years been waning.
Perhaps one reason for this is the changing nature of the native
population of the city, for the deaths there exceed the births. Seeing
this falling away from the Church, the priests announced that they had
decided to send for the _Sacred Heart of the Virgin_, and trusted that
the presence of this holy relic would promote the more faithful
attendance of the flock. The _heart_ arrived and was with great
solemnity hung from the roof of the cathedral as the incentive to
piety. Thousands flocked into the sacred building with reverent awe.
The women gazed upon the heart with tearful eyes, and as they thought
of Mary's sufferings and goodness they were emulated to deeper acts of
love and piety. One day the wind blew very strongly through the open
doorway, and the _Sacred Heart_ began to sway to and fro. Getting more
and more momentum with every oscillation, the heart finally struck
against a sharp cornice, when lo--_all the sawdust fell out_ of the
canvas bag they had worshipped as the heart of flesh of their goddess.
How they reconciled the existence of the heart of the Virgin with their
belief that she ascended to heaven in a bodily form I do not pretend to
imagine. It may be remarked that this is surely Romanism corrupted.
Nay, it is rather Romanism developed.
"Andacilli is a hamlet, at which there is an image of the Virgin. Every
year pilgrims resort thither, and a great feast to the Virgin is
celebrated, the most important day being December 26th. During the last
few years there has been a falling off in the number of pilgrims,
especially those of the better class, but this last year the clerical
authorities have left no stone unturned in order to get together more
people than ever. Six bishops were advertised to come, and they were to
crown the Virgin with a crown which cost thousands of dollars. These
proceedings rouse an incredible enthusiasm in the people." [Footnote:
"Regions Beyond."]
Sometimes Mary's image is baptized in the river, while men and women
line the bank, ready to leap into the _holy water_ when she is lifted
out. Afterwards the water in which she was immersed is sold as a cure
for bodily ills. Sometimes the earth from under the building where she
is kept is also sold for the same purpose.
Imagine a church like that in Tucuru! "It consists of a palm-leaf hut,
with a bare floor and no furniture whatever. Round the sides stand
twelve life-size figures, made of canvas and stuffed with husks of
corn, which some one of the Indian worshippers has painted with the
features and dress of his own race. When I went in two women lay
prostrate on the floor, and one of them screamed in agonizing tones,
'My Lords, send the rod of your power to heal him!'--evidently praying
to these apostles on behalf of some sick relative. Here, once a year, a
priest celebrates mass, and when he last came he stuck a paper over the
entrance, which read: _Hoec est Domus Del et Porta Coeli_ (' This is
the House of God and the Gate of Heaven.') In San José we have the four
walls of a new church, consecrated to the 'Virgin,' where, recently, a
raffle was held on behalf of the projected edifice. As we enter, the
first thing seen is an inscription, professing to be a message to each
visitor from the Virgin, which says, 'My son, behold me without a
temple. Come, help in building it, and I shall reward thee with Eternal
Life." [Footnote: Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society.]
Christ said: "I give unto My sheep eternal life"; but the record of
that saying is jealously kept from them.
When the early colonists left Spain for the New World, they took with
them the Creed of Pius IV. That creed expressly states that the Bible
is not for the people. "Whoever will be saved must _renounce_ it. It is
a forbidden book."
"In 1850, when the Christian world was first being roused to the
darkness of South America, and philanthropic men were desirous of
sending Bibles there, Pope Pius IX. wrote an Encyclical letter in which
he spoke of Bible study as 'poisonous reading,' and urged all his
venerable brethren with vigilance and solicitude to put a stop to it.
Thus has South America been denied the revelation of God. The priest
has, because of this ignorance, been able to 'lord it over God's
heritage.'" [Footnote: Guiness's "Romanism and the Reformation."]
With an open Bible, Spanish America would have progressed as North
America has done. Without the enlightening influences of that Word,
behold the darkness! Could anything be more eloquent than the
prosperity of the land of the Pilgrim Fathers in proclaiming the value
of the open Bible?
Mr. Hudson Taylor, of the China Inland Mission, speaking on a recent
occasion, said: "I always pray for South America. It is a most needy
part of the world, and wants your prayers as well as mine. The workers
there have great difficulties to contend with, and of the same sort as
we have in China, from Roman Catholicism--the most God-dishonoring
system in the world. The heathen need your prayers, but the Roman
Catholic needs them ten times more. He is ten times as much in the dark
as the heathen themselves are."
The _Missionary Review of the World_ describes South America as
"Earth's darkest land." Do you not think, O reader, the words are most
truly applied?
"There are in South America eight hundred missionaries, men and women,
from Great Britain, the Continent of Europe, Canada and the United
States. In Canada and the United States there is on an average one
Protestant minister for every 514 persons. In South America each
missionary has a constituency of about fifty thousand, indicating a
need in proportion of population one hundred times as great as in the
Protestant countries of North America." [Footnote: Bishop Neely's
"South America."]
Yet, One called Jesus, whom we say we love, said: "Go ye into all the
world and preach the Gospel to every creature."