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SOCIAL CONDITION IN COLOMBIA

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 7, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 1.

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SOCIAL CONDITION IN COLOMBIA.

REV. M. E. CALDWELL writes from Colombia that the people are practically without the Gospel, without God, and without hope either for this life or the world to come. He says:—
“We never find any one here who has any clear conception of salvation through faith in Christ, unless he has first come in contact with some Christian teacher. The Gospel is not preached by the priests to their people.
“These poor people either expect to save themselves or to be saved by the priests. With the devout people of the Romish Church here, the priest, however immoral he may be, stands in the place of Christ to his people, and is lord of their conscience and the hope of their eternal salvation.
“The fruits of Romanism in this country are simply terrible. According to the little Spanish paper (conservative), El Heraldo, of Bogota, the births which occurred during one month in Bogota were as follows:—
Boys, legitimate children - - - - 52
Girls, legitimate children - - - - 57
Boys, illegitimate children - - - - 42
Girls, illegitimate children - - - - 41
“In the country and smaller towns the case is far worse. Undoubtedly far more than one-half, perhaps three-fourths, of all the native population in Colombia are of illegitimate birth.”—Missionary Review.