One Matter, However, Had For Some Little Time Been
Troubling Them, Viz., The Confession Of Their Sins To A Priest.
After
due consideration, it was decided to ask Father A., living some
seventeen leagues distant, to state the lowest sum for which he would
come to receive their confessions.
'One hundred dollars,' he replied,
'is the lowest I can accept, and as soon as you send it I will come.'
"After a great effort, for they were very poor, forty dollars was
raised amongst them, and word was sent to Father A. that they could
not possibly collect any more. Would he take pity on them and accept
that sum? 'What! only forty dollars in the whole of E - -,' was his
reply, 'and you dare to offer me that! No! I will not come, and,
furthermore, from this day I pronounce a curse on your village, and
every living person and thing there. Your children will all sicken
and die, your cattle all become covered with disease, and you will
know no comfort nor happiness henceforth. I, Father A., have said it,
and it will come to pass.'
"Where was the quiet, peaceful scene of a few weeks before? Gone, and
in its place all terror and confusion. These ignorant people,
believing the words of the priest, gathered together their belongings
and fled. As I saw those poor, simple people leaving the homes which
had sheltered them for years, as well as their ancestors before them,
and with feverish haste hurrying down the valley - every few minutes
looking back, with intense sorrow and regret stamped on their faces -
I thought surely these people need some one to tell them of Jesus,
for, little as I know about Him, I am convinced that He does not wish
them to be treated thus."
The priest is satisfied with nothing less than the most complete
submission of the mind and body of his flock. A woman must often give
her last money for masses, and a man toil for months on the well-
stocked land of the divine father to save his soul. If he fail to do
this, or any other sentence the priest may impose, he is condemned to
eternal perdition.
Mr. Patrick, of the R. B. M. U., has described to me how, soon after
he landed in Trujilla, he attended service at a Jesuit church. He had
introduced some gospels into the city, and a special sermon was
preached against the Bible. During the service the priest produced
one of the gospels, and, holding it by the covers, solemnly put the
leaves into the burning candle by his side, and then stamped on the
ashes on the pulpit floor. The same priest, however, Ricardo Gonzales
by name, thought it no wrong to have seventeen children to various
mothers, and his daughters were leaders in society. "Men love
darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil." In
Trujilla, right opposite my friend's house, there lived, at the same
time, a highly respected priest, who had, with his own hands, lit the
fire that burnt alive a young woman who had embraced Christianity
through missionary preaching. Bear in mind, reader, I am not writing
of the dark ages, but of what occurred just outside Trujilla during
my residence in the country. Even in 1910, Missionary Chapman writes
of a convert having his feet put in the stocks for daring to
distribute God's Word. [Footnote: I never saw greater darkness
excepting in Central Africa. I visited 70 of the largest cathedrals,
and, after diligent enquiry, found only one Bible, and that a
Protestant Bible about to be burned - Dr. Robert E. Speer, in
"Missionary Review of the World," August, 1911.]
Up to four years ago, the statute was in force that "Every one who
directly or through any act conspires to establish in Bolivia any
other religion than that which the republic professes, namely, that
of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, is a traitor, and shall
suffer the penalty of death."
After a week's stay in Piedra Blanca, during which I had ample time
for such comparisons as these I have penned, quarantine lifted, and
the expedition staff separated. I departed on horseback to inspect a
tract of land on another frontier of Bolivia 1,300 miles distant.
PART III.
PARAGUAY
[Illustration: AN INDIAN AND HIS GOD NANDEYARA]
"I need not follow the beaten path;
I do not hunt for any path;
I will go where there is no path,
And leave a trail."
PARAGUAY
Paraguay, though one of the most isolated republics of South America,
is one of the oldest. A hundred years before the "Mayflower" sailed
from old Plymouth there was a permanent settlement of Spaniards near
the present capital. The country has 98,000 square miles of
territory, but a population of only 800,000. Paraguay may almost be
called an Indian republic, for the traveller hears nothing but the
soft Guarani language spoken all over the country. It is in this
republic that the yerba mate grows. That is the chief article of
commerce, for at least fifteen millions of South Americans drink this
tea, already frequently referred to. Thousands of tons of the best
oranges are grown, and its orange groves are world-famed.
The old capital, founded in 1537, was built without regularity of
plan, but the present city, owing to the despotic sway of Francia, is
most symmetrical. That South American Nero issued orders for all
houses that were out of his lines to be demolished by their owners.
"One poor man applied to know what remuneration he was to have, and
the dictator's answer was: 'A lodgment gratis in the public prison.'
Another asked where he was to go, and the answer was, 'To a state
dungeon.' Both culprits were forthwith lodged in their respective new
residences, and their houses were levelled to the ground."
"Such was the terror inspired by the man that the news that he was
out would clear the streets.
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