THE PRESENT CONDITION AND OUTLOOK OF MISSION WORK IN MEXICO by Samuel P. Craver, D.D.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 9, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 23.

THE PRESENT CONDITION AND OUTLOOK OF MISSION WORK IN MEXICO.

By Samuel P. Craver, D.D.

BY SAMUEL P. CRAVER, D.D.

(Condensed from the Gospel in All Lands, for March.)

WERE there space, it would be very interesting to set forth in this article the marvelous way in which the Mexican people, held for centuries in the vise-like grip of the Roman hierarchy, rose up in the majesty of outraged manhood and broke loose from the civil yoke of Rome, and, on the ruins of a shattered and despoiled ecclesiasticism, established religious toleration, liberty of conscience, and equal rights for all. The story is one of the most striking and captivating in the annals of modern history.

For the present suffice it to say that the overreaching tyranny of the Romish priesthood, united to the fact of their constant hostility to liberal and republican institutions, finally spurred the party of progress to such desperate earnestness that they were enabled to seize the reins of government, disfranchise the priesthood, confiscate the church property, abolish religious communities, banish from the country all Jesuits, monks, and nuns, and publish to the world a constitution and laws of reform that challenge admiration. Those who wrought all these unprecedented acts were themselves sons of the Roman Catholic Church, born within her fold, and trained by her teachers. After they had thus broken the terrible spell that had held their people enthralled for centuries, these men realized that the nation needed religious belief. No people can long maintain a state of religious negation. To meet this imperious demand the Liberal party of Mexico established the Reform Laws, which grant complete religious liberty and equal protection to all forms of worship which do not attack public morals. The world was invited to give them the best it had of religious faith and practice.

Responding to this Macedonian cry, the Protestant churches of the United States have entered Mexico, and for over twenty years have been battling against the superstition, ignorance, and vice engendered and fostered by Romanism.

The field is a difficult one. While the laws of the land guarantee religious freedom, and the higher authorities of the State, as well as of the nation, are generally disposed to grant the protection of the law, the people, in their vast majority, are intolerant and bigoted. Urged on by a corrupt and vicious priesthood, this intolerance becomes a serious obstacle to the advance of the cause of truth. It often takes the form of open violence, and life and property are endangered. More frequently and constantly the implacable opposition of the fanatical population takes the form of complete ostracism and boycott.

Those who accept Protestantism are very generally cut off from the means of supplying their needs, and their neighbors, incited by the priests, make a systematic effort to reduce them to submission to the old faith by means of starvation. This results in very many cases in a removal to some other place. Oftentimes the convert is thus lost to the cause, but frequently he becomes the forerunner of the preacher, preparing the way for the introduction of evangelical truth in places that have never known it before. Like the disciples of old who, when scattered by persecution, "went everywhere preaching the word," many of those who are driven from their homes because of their religious belief carry the seed into new ground and become the nuclei of new congregations. Some, it is sad to say, when ostracised and persecuted, hide their light under a bushel and abstain from any public manifestation of evangelical belief. Very few ever return to the fold of Rome.

Another difficulty in the work is encountered in the exceeding lax morality of the people. A very large proportion of those who accept the gospel are found to be living in illicit domestic relations. The laws of Mexico grant no permission for the remarriage of a divorced person while the other party lives. This fact, added to that of the great lack of any form of marriage, because of price and the general prevalence of concubinage, presents an unending series of complications in domestic relations that can only be appreciated by those who are brought in daily contact with them. It is often boastingly said that there are very few divorces in Roman Catholic countries. It is true, but "more's the pity." Uncongenial marriages are not broken up by divorce, but the parties contract other relations, just as if there were no such thing as a marriage bond. As a result of this it very often happens that a man is converted and wants to join the church and lead a new life, but he has two, three, or more families dependent upon him, and with the greatest difficulty, if at all, can he legalize his relations with any one of the mothers. Very frequently such people give up in despair, and say, "I cannot be a Christian, but my children will be."

Religious indifference and skepticism constitute another great barrier to the progress of the gospel. Though born and baptized in the Roman Church, the greater part of the educated people of Mexico are unbelievers. The corruptions, errors, and superstitions of Romanism have become so manifest to them that they cannot believe in that religious system. Accustomed as they are to regard the Roman Catholic as the only true religion, when once undeceived concerning its errors, they naturally lose faith in all religions, or at least become indifferent. Perhaps none of all the obstacles named is as great as this, for it is founded generally on an intellectual pride, which renders its possessor almost impenetrable by the shafts of conviction.

A more difficult field than Mexico is hard to find, owing to the foregoing and other numerous causes. Yet the results of twenty-five years of Protestant effort are not altogether unsatisfactory. The field is cultivated by the following churches: The Congregational, the Baptist, the Episcopal, the Friends, the Methodist Episcopal, the Methodist Episcopal South, the Presbyterian, the Cumberland Presbyterian, the Southern Presbyterian, and the Reformed Synod of the South. Nearly every State is occupied by some evangelical society, and some by several. The work done by these various bodies consists: 1. In the establishment of congregations, where the gospel is regularly preached to a total of about 25,000 believers. 2. In the formation of schools of various grades, where many thousands of children and youth are receiving a Christian education. The

Congregational, Presbyterian, and two Methodist Churches all sustain theological and normal schools for the training of workers in their respective fields. 3. In the production and distribution of an evangelical literature in the Spanish language. Several of the churches sustain publishing houses and have their official organs. The oldest of these is El Abogado Christiano Ilustrado (The Illustrated Christian Advocate), founded by the Methodist Mission in 1876. It is an eight-page, handsomely illustrated paper, nearly the size of the New York Christian Advocate. El Faro (The Lighthouse), organ of the Presbyterian Church, and El Evangelista (The Evangelist), of the Southern Methodists, are similar in size and style to the Abogado. El Ramo de Olivo (The Olive Branch), of the Friends, La Luz (Light), of the Baptist, El Testigo (The Witness), of the Congregational, and La Buena Lid (The Good Fight), of the Episcopal, are smaller in size, but generally have a greater number of pages than their older sisters. Besides these religious organs the presses publish Sunday school helps, books, and tracts, which go to many places where the living preacher cannot as yet secure a hearing, and prepare the soil for the sowing of the word.

By these means the Protestant cause is slowly but steadily advancing. The excessive intolerance of the masses is gradually yielding, and they are becoming accustomed to the presence of "heretics," so that they are less inclined than formerly to kill them. The people are becoming more enlightened through the schools and press and the enforced practice of religious toleration. In spite of the constant and increasing activity of the Roman priesthood, the people are coming to know more and more what Protestantism really is, and the truth is filtering slowly through the mass of error.

The facilities for travel and change of locality afforded by the constantly extending systems of railroads contribute in marked degree to the breaking down of old prejudices and the formation of new ideas, as does also the large influx of foreigners, both for pleasure and business.

All these different agencies are slowly transforming the Mexican nation, and surely preparing the way for a much more general acceptance of the truth of the gospel in the coming years. There may never be such abundant harvests as are being now gathered in India, but certainly the signs of the times point to a near future of far greater triumphs for Protestantism in Mexico than have yet been obtained.