PAM. 
 S. AMEK. 
 
 
 A Clarion Call 
 
 FROM 
 
 BRAZIL 
 
 W. E. ENTZMINGER 
 
 FOREIGN MISSION BOARD 
 SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION 
 RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/clarioncallfrombOOentz 
 
A CLARION CALL FROM BRAZIL 
 
 W. E. Entzminger. 
 
 On July 18, 1891, the writer, with his bride 
 of a few days, boarded the good ship “Vigil- 
 ancia” at Newport News, Va., in response to 
 the Macedonian call that had come from the 
 far-away “Land of the Southern Cross.” On 
 the same ship sailed brethren J. J. Taylor and 
 wife, of Arkansas, and J. L. Downing and wife, 
 of Missouri. The Taylors and Downings were 
 going to reinforce our pioneer missionary, W. 
 B. Bagby, at Rio, while the Entzmingers were 
 going to the aid of Z. C. Taylor at Bahia. 
 
 When the “Vigilancia” had headed out to 
 sea and we began to form acquaintances with 
 our fellow-passengers, it was discovered that 
 there were no fewer than seventeen missionaries 
 on board, representing Baptists, Methodists, 
 Presbyterians, and Y. M. C. A. workers, some 
 already veterans in service, while the majority 
 were young men and young women who were 
 leaving their native land as Abraham of old 
 had gone out from Ur of the Chaldees, but 
 whose faces were turned to the future, radiant 
 with the hope and expectancy of those who 
 had seen a vision. 
 
 After an uneventful, but pleasant voyage of 
 twenty-three days via Para, Maranhao, and 
 Pernambuco, we arrived at Bahia on th^ 10th 
 of August, just as the king of day was sinking 
 under the western horizon, enveloping that 
 tropical city and its environs in such a wealth 
 
 3 
 
of gorgoous beauty that in the distance it pre- 
 sented a scene so fascinating that we half- 
 imagined we had come to some magical land of 
 the Arabian Nights; but in reality we had 
 come to a place where, during the months to 
 follow, we were to undergo experiences well 
 nigh overwhelming. 
 
 Although some ten years had elapsed since 
 the arrival of Bagby and Taylor, by whose 
 heroic efforts much seed had been sown, we 
 found we had come in a day of small things, 
 when even the corner-stone of the future em- 
 pire which Baptist are to build for Christ in 
 Brazil had hardly yet been laid. In the whole 
 country there were but three Baptist mission- 
 aries — Taylor at Bahia and Bagby and Soper 
 at Rio. There were but three Baptist churches 
 — one at Bahia, one at Rio, and the third at 
 Maceo, where the converted ex-Catholic priest, 
 Teixeira, had wrought mightily before his un- 
 timely death. The combined membership of 
 all three churches did not exceed 150 members, 
 and these of the humblest. The outlook for 
 evangelistic work was by no means encourag- 
 ing, for throughout the length and breadth of 
 the new republic the people, under the pernici- 
 ous influence of the priests, entertained the 
 bitterest prejudice against the Gospel and its 
 messengers; persecutions, often in the most 
 violent form, abounded and the “open doors’" 
 were few and far between. 
 
 The story of what in the twenty-three inter- 
 vening years God has wrought by means of 
 the little handful of missionaries and their 
 native helpers at work in this land of papal 
 superstition and ignorance surely would read 
 like a chapter in the Acts of the Apostles, and 
 doubtless would be one of the most stirring 
 in the history of modern missions. The three 
 small churches have become 175, and the 15(> 
 
 4 
 
believers have become 12,000, representing all 
 classes, many of whom are the very salt of the 
 earth. Prom near the headwaters of the mighty 
 Amazon, in the far north to the plains of the 
 Rio Grand do Sul, in the extreme south, Bap- 
 tist churches have been planted, from whose 
 humble pulpits a whole Gospel is proclaimed to 
 multitudes, in which the way to freedom in 
 Christ from the debasing superstition and 
 tyranny of the Church of Rome is made plain. 
 Five colleges have been established, and two 
 theological schools, with some twenty-five stu- 
 dents, are making a valuable contribution to- 
 wards the preparation of a native ministry. A 
 flourishing publishing house, which promises 
 large things for the future, has been built up 
 in Rio. And for several years a national con- 
 vention, with which is associated a woman’s 
 union, and with which the churches co-operate 
 in -education, publications and missions, has 
 annually held enthusiastic sessions, imparting 
 to the churches’ messengers a noble spirit of 
 co-operation. Also a large liberality has been 
 cultivated among the converts, which is evident 
 from the fact that for the whole field the aver- 
 age last year reaches about $7 per member. 
 A goodly number of churches have become en- 
 tirely self-sustaining, and nearly all are contri- 
 buting to ministerial education and publica- 
 tions, to home evangelization in the States of 
 Parana and Matto Grosso, and to foreign mis- 
 sions in Chile and Portugal. Notwithstanding 
 the distressing financial depression that is now 
 being felt throughout the republic, the spirit 
 of liberal giving grows, and in many instances 
 reaches the heights of heroic sacrifice. 
 
 During these later years the attitude of the 
 Brazilian nation towards Americans and their 
 evangelical propaganda has undergone a mighty 
 transformation; the spirit of mistrust and hos- 
 
 5 
 
tility, so long formented on the one hand by 
 their mistaken political leaders and false re- 
 ligious teachers, and hy the commercial rival 
 nations of Europe on the other hand, is giving 
 way to that of confidence and good will, and 
 an increasing element of the better classes 
 hail the work of American missionaries as 
 fundamental and redemptive, to whom they 
 give their fervent Godspeed. Especially do Bap- 
 tist principles appeal to the democratic spirit 
 that like leaven is permeating the masses of the 
 South American republics. Indeed, there is no 
 exaggeration in proclaiming Brazil as perhaps 
 the ripest mission field of the world. Of no 
 land can the Master’s words be more appropria- 
 ately applied, “Lift up your eyes and look upon 
 the fields, for they are white already to 
 harvest.” 
 
 The increasing eagerness on the part of the 
 people to hear the Gospel message and the 
 rapid growth of the work, without a corre- 
 sponding increase in the resources to meet its 
 urgent demands, has, however, precipitated a 
 crisis so serious that it has become to the last 
 degree alarming. Despite the heartrending ap- 
 peals for reinforcements, and despite the fact 
 that a goodly number of choice young men 
 have been pleading to be sent, our board at 
 Richmond, owing to lack of funds, has been 
 absolutely helpless in relieving the situation. 
 We are made happy, however,, by the recent 
 appointrcient of several new men. 
 
 The increased responsibilities that have fallen 
 upon the already overburdened workers on the 
 field have proved far too taxing, and as a con- 
 sequence an unusually large number have 
 broken down under the strain, and have had 
 to seek rest and recuperation in the home land, 
 leaving their work to take care of itself, or 
 to be cared for by those v/ho are already work- 
 
ing beyond their strength. It is needless to 
 say that the Master’s cause is suffering incal- 
 culable loss. Much vantage ground that has 
 been gained at great sacrifice is slipping away 
 from us. The great Amazon valley whose con- 
 quest for Christ a little while back was so 
 promising is at present without a missionary, 
 and even v/ithout a native worker who can 
 at all adequately handle the situation. For 
 twenty years E. A. Nelson and his noble wife, 
 single-handed and alone, have there waged the 
 Lord’s battles with apostolic zeal and holy con- 
 secration. EVen with tears they have pleaded 
 for help, but in vain. In these later years all 
 the powers of darkness, it seems, have con- 
 spired to destroy the work they so auspiciously 
 began and have carried on with rare devotion. 
 The important church at Manans, which owns 
 a splendid building, and which is entirely self- 
 sustaining, has been for several years without 
 a pastor, despite the fact that they have been 
 offering $2,000 a year for even a moderately 
 capable man who could, at least in a measure, 
 save the day. The once flourishing church at 
 Para that holds the key to the Amazon valley 
 is also in a distressing situation. 
 
 Down in the city and State of Bahia, where 
 our Brazilian Baptist work had its beginnings, 
 conditions beggar description. The two large 
 churches in the city, both centrally located, and 
 both well equipped with houses, and which were 
 once as flourishing as a tree planted by rivers 
 of water, have for many months been pastorless. 
 And the work in the whole city has suffered 
 irretrievable loss. The thirty churches scat- 
 tered through the interior of the State are also 
 largely without adequate pastoral care, and, 
 of course, it is not difficult to imagine the 
 consequences. For that whole field we have 
 but one missionary-evangelist. Brother E. A. 
 
 7 
 
Jackson, who cannot do even a tenth part of 
 the work. Indeed, to go through our Brazilian 
 Baptist Zion and see with one’s own eyes, as 
 the writer has done, what it has suffered from 
 lack of men and equipment is sufficient to fill 
 the heart with dismay. Oh, may the Lord of 
 the harvest speedily send forth laborers into 
 his Brazilian harvest! May His spirit mightily 
 move upon his people in this favored land of 
 America who have so freely received of the 
 grace of God, but who seem to think it is more 
 blessed to receive than to give. 
 
 This tremendous crisis in Brazil’s evangeliza- 
 tion should be forsooth the trumpet call of God 
 to his people to come up to His help against 
 the mighty. Southern Baptist, having put their 
 hands to the plow, can never more look back. 
 They stand unalterably committed to the 
 heaven imposed trust. To be sure they can be 
 unfaithful to it, but if so would it not be just 
 as impossible for them to escape the condemna- 
 tion of heaven as it is for fire not to burn 
 or steam to expand. May our great Baptist 
 host of this Southland arise as one man to 
 answer to the summons to advance, and to give 
 of their sons and of their daughters and of 
 their gold for the redemption of beautiful 
 Brazil. 
 
 “Stand up! Stand up for Jesus! 
 The trumpet call obey, 
 
 Forth to the mighty conflict, 
 
 In this His glorious day.”