IDOLATRY IN SOUTH AMERICA.
By Rev. Geo. G. Froggatt
BY REV. GEO. G. FROGGATT. IDOLATRY in its grossest and most pernicious forms continues to wax daily stronger and stronger in the Argentine and in the Uruguay republics. In proof of the correctness of this statement I take the following paragraph from a late number of one of the most prominent English papers published daily in Buenos Ayres: “The pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin at Lujar, to celebrate the eighth anniversary of the coronation of the Virgin, will commence on the 12th [September, 1895]. It is stated that there will be many thousands of pilgrims from the provinces of Buenos Ayres, Santa Fe, and Entre Rios. The sum of $350,000 has been expended upon the new church. The donations in money to this date exceed $500,000. An Argentine widow lady has given two altars, constructed in Paris, at the cost of $5,000 each. The oriental republic has given a large lamp made of gold and silver and ornamented with jewels.” . . . We see one remedy alone for this awful sin against God and against man’s enlightened conscience, and that remedy consists in a knowledge, combined with a deep love, of the teachings contained in the Holy Scriptures in regard to this degrading and shameful evil, unfortunately so deeply rooted in the thought, in the habits, and in the institutions of the vast majority of the people who inhabit these countries. Many Argentines and natives of Uruguay are ready and willing enough to condemn the idolatry of the Chinese or of the Japanese, etc., whenever they read about it, or are informed in regard to the same, but there is no possible way of making them understand that they are, relatively, far more idolatrous themselves than the poor, ignorant Chinaman, or the more cultured but spiritually ignorant native of Japan, whom they so readily, yet so unreasonably, condemn. What is still worse, and infinitely more discouraging, is the fact that neither the average Argentine nor the average native of Uruguay is at all willing to condemn, and to free himself absolutely from, the idolatrous principle. The one as much as the other has made up his mind, apparently, not to recognize that idolatry in itself—never mind to whom paid, or under what pretext indulged in—is a crime against heaven and a grievous offense against human reason. Whatever the theories of men like Dr. Carroll may be concerning the extent of the Christian element in the Church of Rome, it is an unquestionable, self-evident fact, attested to by thousands, that the Church of Rome, throughout all Spanish America, is hardly entitled, in any true sense of the term, to be called a Christian church.—Gospel in All Lands.