PRESBYTERIAN SCHISM IN BRAZIL.
A DIVIDED, warring Protestantism is sure to make opportunity for Rome. According to a correspondent of the Missionary Review this fact is being illustrated in Brazil. He states the case as follows: The schism in the Presbyterian Church, the strongest Protestant church in Brazil, continues. The alleged ground for the schismatical movement, which resulted in the establishment of an independent presbytery, was the Masonic question; the independents holding that Masonry is incompatible with Christianity, and the synod, that whether it is wrong or not, it is not an occasion for excommunication or exclusion from the church. Both sides are holding their own, tho, as always, schism seems likely itself to be rent by schism. These are bad days for dissension among Christians in Brazil. Every energy is needed for real work.13“Conditions have greatly changed here,” writes one of the most experienced observers. In Brazil, “there is no longer an indifferent, dying church to contend with, but a revived Roman Catholic Church, . . . an awakening of the religious sense of the people. This is the result of a skilfully-organized campaign from Rome, and the influx of thousands of learned priests and members of the religious orders from Spain, Italy, France, and Germany, and even from the United States. Something must be done by the various missions to meet these conditions.