p. 16 | F. L. PERRY by F. L. Perry

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 25, 1907

F. L. PERRY

By F. L. Perry

Peru

LIMA.—The work continues to grow here. There is a spirit or power with this message that transforms the characters of those who fully accept it. Since coming to Peru I have stayed by the little work started in Lima, endeavoring to get established here at the headquarters of things Peruvian a definite, firm, and lasting memorial for God, in the form of an organized company of united believers in this message.

This has been a long and trying effort, but at last the clear light of victory seems dawning. Some have left us, but we are glad to see and feel the sweet influence of the Spirit of God drawing the believers together in love and union. There is a small company about ready for organization. Among them are some who can bear burdens in the local work, and who may develop into workers, so that now we are planning to leave this work here with Brother Robison and native helpers, and spend some time in visiting and instructing the few isolated ones who have waited so patiently for a visit.

One can hardly comprehend the density of the ignorance by which these people are surrounded. We must needs begin with the A B C of Christianity. They can pray, and do pray much, to an image of gold, or iron, or wood, or, perhaps, as is very common, to merely a picture of a supposed saint; but it is difficult for them to believe that they can lift their burdened hearts directly to God in prayer. They can confess their sins to a priest; but to confess to God would be a great innovation. And to acknowledge faults one to another, entirely foreign to their minds; in fact, it is a difficult thing to get a professed Christian to acknowledge a fault to his brother.

One should live in a Catholic country awhile, to see and hear of miracles (?) in abundance. For instance, in Quito, Equador, a few months ago, in a church, a large picture of some saint began to move its eyes in wonderful fashion. The church was visited by thousands of people, and the affair was printed in most of the South American papers. It is said that the sick also were healed. Down in Arequipa, Peru, it is said, in a certain church are two saints, which at times incline toward each other, as if in conversation. At such times the adoring multitudes may be seen kneeling in the street before the church. Here in Lima is a large and beautiful image, which is carried through the streets in times of much sickness, and is said to have the power to avert such epidemics.

About the first of December, in the church in Calle Prado, one block from where we lived in Lima, a large image of a saint began to sweat. Every Tuesday and Saturday it sweat during certain hours. This attracted much attention. It is said that even the president’s wife visited the church. As is usual in such cases, the priests had an eye to the financial opportunities presented, and they were kept busy wiping off the sweat with bits of cotton, and these were sold at good prices to the credulous people, as charms to guard them in time of disease or danger. Some said the image sweat blood, also; but I rather think that the cause of this appearance was a recently applied coat of paint. I have heard that a perspiring proposition of this sort in Chile some years ago was discovered to have at the base of the hollow image a charcoal fire under a basin of water. There are many such miracles (?), but the greatest wonder to me is that so many believe in their reality. And what a dreadful responsibility those are assuming who, in the name of God and Christ, perpetrate such miserable deceptions upon a confiding people. But the deceptions are being exposed. Many people, with a few words, can be led to see the foolishness of such things. Many have a reverence for the Bible.

The spirit of opposition is also active. There is a general agitation for stricter Sunday laws. Congress refused to pass a strict Sunday law about two years ago, after full discussion, but the Lima council has quite a strict ordinance in this city. We have just had a little difficulty. Brother Ramon Beltran keeps a small shop with dry goods and notions. On January 13 he was presented with a demand for a multa, or fine, for keeping his shop open on a certain Sunday in November. Without any sort of proof or trial, he was commanded to pay his fine, and this for an offense (?) two months old. He refused to pay, and a soldier was placed at his door, and no one was permitted to buy a thing there until the fine was paid. He paid, on advice of his counsel, who promised to institute proceedings against the government here, because of the injustice, he being a citizen of Ecuador. This is a sample of the justice one may expect here. But the light must and will shine forth, and all who truly desire to be saved will hear and accept the message—“the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”