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SOUTH AMERICA

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 14, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 28.

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SOUTH AMERICA.

A NEGLECTED CONTINENT.

"WHEN will a missionary have the privilege of bringing the gospel of Christ to this continent?" wrote Henry Martyn, when, on the way to India, his ship touched at Brazil. "When," he asked, "will this beautiful country be delivered from its Christian idolatry? The cross is not wanting, but the message of the cross is unknown." In quoting these words the Revue des Missions Contemporaines adds that they apply to the present time as well as to the opening years of this century, when they were written: The Revue goes on to say that it is only in English and Dutch Guiana, the extreme northern portion of South America, that a great center of gospel light has been created, by the labors of the English Church and of Moravian missionaries, and it gives the following statements as to the luminous points which appear amid the deep shadows that envelop the southern half of the New World.
Venezuela, twice as large as France, has only one Protestant missionary for its 2,350,000 inhabitants.
Colombia, with an extent nearly double that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and with a population of 4,000,000, has only three mission stations, occupied by the Presbyterian Church of the United States.
Ecuador, half as large as Germany, is the only one of the South American republics which tolerates no other religion than that of Rome. There is not a single herald of the truth as we receive it among her million inhabitants.
Peru, with her 3,000,000 scattered over an extent of country twice as great as that of France and Switzerland put together, has only one Protestant pastor, Mr. Ford, who has charge of the two little evangelical churches of Lima and Callao. The American Bible Society does its best to scatter the word of God among these ignorant people, and its principal agent, M. Penzotti, has but recently come out of the prison into which he was thrown by the priests of Rome. Peru also awaits the time when the Light of life shall illumine her darkness.
Bolivia, two and one-half times larger than France, with a population of 2,300,000 souls, has only one settled missionary. It is visited here and there by colporters of the American Bible Society.
Chile, politically and intellectually the most advanced of the republics, counting 2,720,000 inhabitants, of whom 500,000 are Indians, has an extent equal to one and one-half times that of France. Here the United States Presbyterians have five stations, occupied by a dozen workers, and the South American Society has three stations, with eight missionaries. Let us hope that the Swiss preachers, who give their attention to the spiritual needs of Swiss immigrants in Chile, will also spread abroad the light of evangelical truth among the Roman Catholic populations.
The Argentine Republic is the second in size of the South American States. It is five times larger than Germany, though it has but 4,000,000 inhabitants. One-fourth of this population is of European descent; three-fourths are Indians or of mixed blood. It is evangelized by seven laborers of the missionary society for South America, and twelve of the M. E. Church of the U. S. A.
Paraguay, after having submitted for two centuries to a Jesuitical government, has at last expelled its oppressors. Smaller than Italy, it has, according to some authorities, 250,000 inhabitants; according to others, twice that number. However this may be, the five workers of the Missionary Society for South America and the group of natives in the service of the Methodist Episcopal Church, are utterly insufficient for their task.
Uruguay has seven mission stations, dependent on the same two agencies. As large as France, it has 600,000 to 700,000 inhabitants.
Brazil, larger than the United States and comprising half of the South American continent, has 14,000,000 people. Six societies are at work here, employing about eighty missionaries, one for every 175,000 souls. But, as everywhere in this vast region, the laborers are not apportioned equally among the inhabitants; they reach probably not more than 2,000,000. Communities of German immigrants, served by evangelical pastors, no doubt exercise a beneficent influence around them. To sum up, of the 34,000,000 inhabitants of South America, there are undoubtedly not more than 4,000,000 who are reached by the gospel message; 30,000,000 remain strangers to the good news. Is it not, then, accurate to call that part of the world a neglected continent?—Selected.