Experience of a Bible Colporteur in Brazil
FROM the Bible Society Record, published by the American Bible Society, we take the following report of one of their faithful colporteurs, Mr. R. A. Beufill. It gives his experiences in a town in Brazil where Protestants have nothing to say in the management of affairs:— “In this city we sold eight Bibles, twelve Testaments, four Psalms, and nine Gospels. I expect to sell two other Bibles. We might have sold more books, but when the padre [father, or priest] got word we were in the city, he began to work against us. There is not one Protestant living in this city. Two persons are interested in the gospel, but still hold to the Roman Church. When we arrived, we found the hotel price very dear, but the man in whose paddock I put the animals offered to keep us for a reasonable price. We accepted his offer. The second day we were here, in the evening the padre came to the door and inquired of our host if he knew who the two men were that he had accommodated in his house, and what their business was in the city. Our host informed him that he knew we were Protestants, and that we were here to sell Bibles. “Then the padre, in an angry tone, asked him what he was doing sheltering heretics in his house who were here in the devil's service. To this our host replied: ‘These men are more religious than your lordship, for they know God and practise what they preach.’ “At this the padre became very angry, and said: ‘You as a Catholic have no right to keep these men in your house, and you must put them out.’ “Again our host replied, this time rather angrily because of the padre's interference, ‘Every man governs his own house, Your Lordship, and you may govern yours, but you shall not govern mine; and as to these men, they shall stay in my house as long as they wish to.’ “This conversation took place on the street, and at this point I passed through the sala, and the padre took a hasty leave. I did not hear the conversation, but it was related to us afterward by our host. “On the Sunday following, at mass, the padre, according to what I was told, preached in the following manner: ‘There are two Protestants in the city who are going from house to house selling false Bibles. I counsel you to be good Catholics and not buy any of these books, or you will make shipwreck of your most holy faith. Those of you who have bought books should burn them ere they poison your minds.’ “The gentleman who narrated this to us said the padre spoke in bitter tones. Later in the day two persons who had bought Bibles, took them to the padre at the church for his approval, when he tore them to pieces, and burned them. “I have not yet met the padre. Two or three times he has been seen coming toward this house, but when he sees Joao or me, he turns and goes back again as if he had not the courage to meet us. Last Monday he met our host in the road, and wished to know when we were going to leave, but he gave him no satisfaction, saying: ‘I don't know. They may stop all the year if they like, as far as I am concerned.’ “There is a young man belonging to one of the best families of this city, who bought a New Testament from me, and afterward his mother wished him to destroy it, and would not let him read it. So he took the book to the house of a companion for him to guard. I am told that he goes practically every night to this companion's home, where the two are reading it together. “I have been surprised to find quite a number who speak in anything but mild terms of the padre's action in preaching against and burning Bibles.”