SOUTH AMERICA AS A MISSION FIELD.
By R. A. Phair
SOUTH AMERICA is a land of churches, but the church is not of the Bride of Christ; its priests are lazy, vicious, and lustful, making themselves to be despised rather than honored as every true pastor is. The Lottery for Souls is one chief feature of making money out of the poor, ignorant people, and it is a common thing to see, in the advertisements of the daily paper, announcements telling of those who won the lucky ticket, and in consequence had the soul of a relative prayed out of purgatory without the usual cost. Another feature of worship is a ghastly procession, headed by four men carrying a heavy wooden cross, to which is tied a man with hands, feet, and side painted, thus imitating the wounds of Christ, and this man has to be made dead drunk before he will allow himself to be thus treated. Then come the priests followed by a dozen little children dressed to represent angels. This procession marches thru the town like a mob of rowdies. Mr. Linton saw one of the priests standing in his yard with a jug of liquor by his side, intently watching a cock fight. These priests are looked upon by respectable people with contempt, and indeed this can be little wondered at. As you all know, priests never marry, yet in one village a missionary heard of twelve children who claimed the priest as their honored father. This is only one of the many instances which greet the missionary at every turn. Now turn to the Indian and see a far more deplorable condition,—a poor, despised, degraded race. They are used as slaves in a great many instances, and when they are paid it is only such wages as will keep them in existence; then abuses are resorted to, which make their lives so wretched that a mother often commits infanticide rather than see her children grow up to such darkness, misery, and sin. Yet these poor Indians have souls just as precious in the sight of Christ as ours are. This is the state of the people that have been Christianized according to the Roman Catholic religion. Yet there are at least eight millions of Indians, who, if happiness could be found without Christ, in vast forests, large, flowing rivers, a rude plenty in their homes, fruit in abundance, and without law to oppress, would be so but for that which in every heart reaches out for something beyond the things temporal. O, that men would consider our Lord’s last command to preach the Gospel to every people; for it alone possesses the power to raise them from the condition they are now in.—R. A. Phair, in Christian Worker.