c®\#c®\*c^c®l»c®\*c®\*c®V#c®\*c^\»c^c^c®\*c^c®l»c®v»c®\# Bra3il ♦ ♦ Its people anb Ubetr Evangeltsatton. ^ ^ ^ m :©* 2 )- 2 ). je ^ lPubUsbc5 b^ the foreign aDission »oarb, ©f a full brain and heart concerning the land, Lhe people, and their prospects. Yet such is 'he very magnitude of the task that we hesi- ate to approach it. BRAZILIAN HISTORY. With a history reaching back three hundred fears to the times of Coligny and his Huguenot colony, to the Portuguese Jesuits, and to the Dutch settlements and wars at Pernambuco and Bolivia, Brazil presents a varied and pic- turesque life-story for our study. It tells of savage tribes and their fierce war- fare; of colonies gradually reaching back to the great forests of the interior, and along the mighty coast-line from the Amazon to the La Plata; of dark ship loads of slaves brought from Yoruba and Benin to till the great coffee and cane plantations; of feudal lords, living in medieval power and medieval barbarism; 3 of Romish priests and friars, with their relig- ious mummery, their “festas,’' and gaudy rites and long processions and “miracles"’; and of an imperial court-life, strangely out of place in this new world and its democratic population. THE BRAZILIAN PEOPLE. The Brazilians are a mixture of many races. The old Portuguese settlers who first came from the Douro and the plains of Algarve, were not over nice in morals, and many of them left their wives in the fatherland— here to “adopt” Indian and negro “companions” for wives, and so gradually the three races were intermingled. Afterwards new colonists, mer- chants, physicians, artisans, and farmers came and brought their families along with them. Other foreigners from different lands— some from the Rhine, some from the Swiss valleys, some from the hillsides of France, some from Poland, and many from Italy and Spain — came over as the years passed by. To-day th^ population of North Brazil is largely a mixture of aboriginal, African and white races, while in South Brazil the whites predominate. Thousands of Italians, Portu- guese, Germans, Polanders, and Spanish are scattered over the southern States, and are rap- idly growing in numbers and infiuence, and moulding the habits and character of the masses. 4 A LAND OF PROMISE. Great things are in store for this southern world. God has given it an immense territory, wdiere multiplied millions of our race are des- tined to dwell. Its soil, rich in all the elements of animal and vegetable life, gives back quick and abundant reward to labor. Its climate, a^vay from the coast-line, is salubrious, mild, and invigorating. Its products are as varied as the necessitieg of man, and its natural life is prolific and vigorous. The multitudes of Eu- rope are gathering to this sunny clime. It offers them homes and food and raiment. Six- teen or seventeen million souls now form the nation, but the growth of population is rapid, and in a few" years twmnty-five or thirty mil- lions will here make their dwelling-place. A LAND OF PROGRESS. Many and far-reaching have been the changes for betterment in these last score years. New methods of agriculture are taking the place of the old. Skilled labor is substituting the anti- quated slave toil of yore. Great cities are springing up, north and south. People are mov- ing more rapidly. Education is extending. The arts and sciences are being cultivated. Lib- erty is abroad in the land, and enlightenment is following. The Gospel is giving us both, and its power is growdng. A LAND PREPARED FOR THE GOSPEL. | When nearly twenty years ago we began our" 5 Brazilian life, there was much to hinder and dishearten the Christian worker. A tyrannical State Church held sway in the land. Intoler- ance and persecution met us on every hand. Stones were flung at us, and our lives w^ere in constant danger. The people in general were not anxious to hear our message. Few read our tracts and Gospels. It was a trjdng time of much labor and little fruit. Great changes have taken place. The mon- archy and the State Church have gone, and we believe forever. A new day has dawned on Brazil. The people now give willing and even eager attention to the preaching of the Gospel, and almost everywhere, in spite, of much oppo- sition still from priests and other fanatical Ro- manists, our preaching halls are well filled several times a week with earnest listeners. Last year we reported nearly three hundred baptisms in our twenty-three churches. These now stretch in a thin line from the Amazon Valley to Sao Paulo, and back toward the in- terior of Central and South Brazil. This year the indications point to great results--many conversions and the upbuilding of the churches. OUR WORK. In Rio Janeiro, after years of toil and waiting, we are reaping a blessed harvest, and the out- look is one of much promise. With a new mis- sionary on the field, and a strong man for the pastorate of the church, our cause ought to make rapid progress in this metropolis of Bra- zil. Its population is now nearly 800,000 souls. The four evangelical denominations at work are all making excellent progress, and report large and increasing attendance on religious services. In Sao Paulo, the second city in Brazil in population and in wealth, and the first probably in education and in progress, our work is at last beginning, and with a strong force at work in that centre we may confidently look for great results by God’s blessing. In the region around Campos, in the eastern part of Rio Ja- neiro State, our cause is greatly prospering. Five hundred Baptist believers are now found in that district, and are zealously evangelizing in the towns and villages around them. In North Brazil three great centres give forth the light to the regions about them. While sadly reeding fellow-laborers for the vast fields of moral and spiritual desolation which surround them, yet our brethren at Bahia, Pernambuco, and Para are valiantly struggling to give the knowledge of salvation to the darkened minds and hearts of that vast tropic world. Far up the Amazon, Eric Nelson is going, car- rying Bibles and tracts, and preaching the Gos- pel as he journeys. Z. C. Taylor makes exten- sive journeys to the interior of Bahia State, and calls are continually coming to him to visit other distant towns and villages. Entzminger 7 is sounding forth the doctrines of the cross in the interior of Pernambuco State. VAST DESTITUTE FIELDS. After all, how little has been done, compared with the labor awaiting us! We are preaching the Gospel in the large cities of the coast, and in some of the interior, but the far larger part of the population has as yet been entirely un- evangelized. Of the 800,000 souls in Rio Ja- neiro, probably 700,000 have never once heard the Gospel story! Of the remaining 100,000, probably not more than three or four thousand are saved, and the majority are yet ignorant of the way of life in its simplicity and freeness I In the other large cities, excepting, possibly two, the case is worse. Of the fourteen States where there are any workers at all, only a few points are occupied, while hundreds remain un- touched. Far the greater part of Minas Geraes, Rio Janeiro, Bahia, Pernambuco, Ma- ranhao, Para, and Amagonas States are com- pletely un evangelized, while there are towns and villages thickly scattered over Rio Grande. Parana, Sao Paulo, Ceara, and other States where the voice of the preacher is never heard. Five or six great States are yet without a mis- sionary, and probably without: a single perma- nent worker within their bounds! Literally, there are at least ten or twelve mil- lion people in the Republic who are living and dying in utter ignorance of Christ and His 8 great salvation! Five denominations are at work in the land, but the force, all told, is scat- tered over an immense territory, with its work- ers far separated and totally inadequate to the task before them. THE NEED OF NEW MEN. Our missionary force calls for immediate re- inforcement by strong and vigorous men and women, ‘‘full of faith and the Holy Ghost.” Rio Janeiro, Bahia, and Pernambuco Missions must each have a new missionary couple, and that without delay, if our work is successfully carried forward. While we would gladly util- ize all available native talent, we must have missionary leaders and directors and pioneers, north and south. The number on the field is utterly unable to do the work, which must be done by the missionaries, or not done at all. Ofttimes no rest can be taken by exhausted workers, because there are none to relieve them. This is not economy. It is not justice. It is suicidal. NATIVE WORKERS AND EDUCATION. Our great need in Brazil is for preachers, evangelists, and pastors, and missionaries. Education is secondary, not first. We have honored the preaching of the AVord in our South American work, and God has blessed us and it. We intend always to make it first. But mis- sionaries, however urgently needed, and how- 9 ever diligently they preach, can never do the larger part of the preaching needed. This must be done by natives, and in order for them to do it intelligently, acceptably, and effectively they must, as a rule, be trained and educated. Now and then educated men, richly and specially endowed with natural gifts, can do good and lasting work, but generally our native preach- ers sadly need training, educating, and direct- ing. Few of them know how to organize and direct and solidfy. Our Brazilian Christians are yet for the most part from the poor and working classes. Very few of them are well educated. Our young men have had little early training in home or school. When God calls them into the ministry, they must, therefore, begin their studies, generally, at the bottom. HOW SHALL THEY BE EDUCATED? This is one of the great and burning questions before the missionaries and the churches to- day in this field. It looms up before us, and must be solved. We sorely need a training school for our young preachers. Our mission- ary force is much scattered and very ’ small. We have only seven inale missionaries for tvrenty States I Who shall train our young Bra- zilian preachers? Who has the time? How can they be supported while studying? We are sadly perplexed about this matter. A number of young men in Rio and Campos, ^foreign Mission Journal. RA TES PER ANNbM, One copy, 35 cents; in clubs of ten or more, 25 cents each, and a copy free to the party getting up the club. We prefer to send the Journal separately addressed to each subscriber. To keep informed of our Foreign Mission work, take The Journal. You see letters from the various mission fields. There are special departments for the Woman’s Missionary Union and for the Young People. Address, FOREIGN MISSION JOURNAL, Richmond, Ya. Ai A A A A v** A A A A A A A A A A A M