Chapter 31: The Power of the Book

WHATEVER men may say about God’s Word in England or America, and however much the critics there appear to have undermined its authority and authenticity, out in the great semi-pagan land of Brazil, steeped as it is in the mists of superstition, prejudice, and iniquity — the inevitable result of four centuries of Popish monopoly — the Bible, and the whole Bible, is proving the power of God to unlock the door of hope and salvation to its thirty millions of people; and it is being eagerly welcomed by all classes of society.
To the quiet, persevering work during the past half century of the two great Bible Societies — the British and Foreign and the American — is mainly due under God the remarkable change of attitude towards the truth in the whole of South America, and markedly so in Brazil.
Organizations — and men, too — often disappoint and fail us; doctrinal difficulties may occasionally cloud the issues; but the simple circulation of God’s pure Word is a safe and assuredly profitable investment all the world over — more especially so in Roman Catholic lands.
I firmly hold that every new missionary to a Roman Catholic field should spend as a colporteur the first two years of his life-work. It is a magnificent training for service from every point of view, and helps to rub off some of the veneer and air of superiority that sometimes results from the usual college course, as it makes the worker mace natural and more sympathetic.
Nobody realizes the significance of Bible work more than the high ecclesiastics of Rome. From an article on the work of the Bible Society appearing in what is probably the most influential Roman Catholic newspaper in the world, The Kölnische Volkszeitung the following extracts are noteworthy: “It cannot be denied that in a certain sense the Bible Society is a danger to Catholicism... I believe myself right in the conviction that every copy of the Holy Scriptures and every portion of them circulated by the British or any other Bible Society means a moral strengthening to Protestantism. Believing people in our Church listen willingly to anything from the Bible. When Catholics notice that it is the Protestants who present these cheap editions of the Bible to the people, and enable the very poorest to purchase them, it is only natural that they entertain the erroneous impression that the Catholic Church has some reason for keeping the Bible secret, or that the Bible is dangerous to the Church, ac that the Church has hitherto not shown the necessary zeal in circulating it.”
One may assure the worthy doctor who writes that the “impression” not merely of those who have passed from Rome to Christ, but of the vast majority of the so-called sons of the Roman Catholic Church, is exactly as he states; and that their Church’s attitude towards the Scriptures, especially in South America — where the Bible is burnt in every Catholic city — proves that it is very far from being an “erroneous” one.
The power of the Book is not limited to any or station in life; but to old and young, rich and poor, wise and unlettered alike, it is fulfilling the affirmation, “The entrance of Thy words giveth light” (Psa. 119, 130).
We are on the eve of great events in Brazil, in which the Bible will play no minor part. There are evident signs of a great upheaval in the religious life of the country. What form the movement will eventually take it is difficult to foresee. It may be that out of the decay and ruin of the Church of Rome itself God will raise up reformers who shall lay, more truly and lastingly than the grand old Reformers of old could, the foundations of a great Gospel Church.
Ours is the duty and privilege to see that at this great crisis the people shall have in their hands the only reliable and infallible guide to true godliness, life, and immortality — the Bible.
One of the many proofs of the power of the Book occurred on a certain occasion when I was asked to address a few meetings in a little country town in the remote end of the State of Alagoas.
During the second meeting I noticed a new face — a good-looking, intelligent-featured farmer, who had arrived on horseback. I found that he had ridden through the rain and mud over ten miles, and that this was the first time he had attended a Gospel service.
It seems that some six months before he had purchased a Bible from one of our colporteurs canvassing that region. He was then a strong, bigoted Catholic, but was so overcome by what he read in God’s Word that he anxiously sought his priest to try to square these questions with his conscience on the one hand, and with the doctrines of Rome on the other. They could not be reconciled, however; and the priest had perforce to denounce the Bible as “false” — as they always do. He was careful not to produce his own “true” Bible — perhaps he did not possess one, as very few priests do or dare possess a copy of their own Bible.
Our farmer friend was far from being satisfied, and began to open his eyes. Then the priest, now thoroughly aroused, and not a little chagrined, sought to bring persecution to bear upon his erstwhile lamb, and tried to evict him from his farm as a “dangerous heretic.”
Meanwhile the farmer went on reading, reading, reading; and deeper and deeper grew his convictions. Finally he found he could not keep this new light to himself; so he invited his friends and neighbors to hear him read the Bible. He is a very good reader; and such was the attraction felt that within a short time seventy or eighty people met together — and still meet — to study the Scriptures. Without any pastor or any instruction in such things, they had learned to pray, and even to sing — though I was informed their music was “strange and wonderful.”
The stormy weather prevented me for some time from riding out; but when I did so I found a group of about thirty people who gave evidence of real conversion from superstition and sin unto the living and true God.
On another occasion I was journeying down the big San Francisco River in connection with the work of a colporteur who was canvassing its banks.
While traveling by steamer on the upper reaches of the river, I had noticed a young man who never left his cabin, and who was evidently very ill. The door of his cabin happened to be open when I passed one day, and a formal greeting and the offer of my deck chair soon led to an intimate conversation.
I found my new friend to be in the last stages of consumption, going home to die. I spoke carefully of the need of knowing God, and suggested that this might be His way of causing him to seek for higher things. How great was my surprise when that poor haggard face looked up at me with emotion, and the man said, “Yes, that is true. Before this came upon me I had no use for God, nor did I think of these things; but now I have begun to read the Bible.”
My heart pulsed with joy to hear these words. The Bible had found its way not only into these remote regions, but into this man’s heart; and evidently the very careful teaching of the priests that it is a Protestant and Satanic production does not prevent many from associating the Bible with righteousness and salvation.
We had many talks after that; and the man accepted the gift of God like a little child ere he left that steamer a few days later.
All considered, one cannot wonder at the zealous opposition of the priests to the circulation of the Scriptures, although sometimes the extremity of their zeal leads to humorous results, as the following incident shows: On my way to a certain city on the coast I distributed Gospels among the passengers, and mentioned to one of them on his leaving the boat at an intermediate port that I expected to visit his city, called Propria, on my way back, and make a free distribution of Gospels there from house to house. This came to the ears of the local priest, a notorious enemy of the Gospel; and he at once prepared the ground and stirred up the people against me with the most incredible falsehoods, instigating them to violent methods.
Now it happened that, my stock of booklets exhausted, I did not go as I intended, but deferred my visit.
Meanwhile, a little later, a representative of an American firm arrived at that city. He came to advertise the virtues of some special cod liver oil preparation, and brought with him a large number of little colored and illustrated booklets for house-to-house distribution.
Soon after he started work the news went round the town that the evil Protestant had arrived, and was already doing just as they had been warned. To the young man’s intense surprise the people began to treat him rudely; and in a short time there was a terrible disturbance, the cod liver oil man being nearly stoned before the mistake was found out.
Within six months I visited this town of Propria, accompanied by a native colporteur. Disguising our plans as much as possible, we arrived in a canoe early one morning with a big box of Scriptures. We succeeded in renting a room for our center of operations for the day without attracting any attention.
After carefully reconnoitering the lie of the land, and engaging in definite prayer, we launched out before midday, each taking one side of a street, all working rapidly and systematically! The town was quite taken off its guard — or else they mistook me for the cod liver oil man! — for in a few hours we had sold all our Bibles and Testaments.
Soon a jangle of bells warned us that the faithful were being summoned; but before the priest could organize his horde of ruffians we had also covered the city with a specially prepared bulletin entitled “The Great Conspiracy,” exposing the attempt of Rome to keep the Bible from the people.
Having sped our bolt, we embarked in our canoe that night and paddled away in the bright moonlight, just in time to escape the malice of the “holy father,” who has since been made a bishop — no doubt for his zeal against the Protestants and their Book.
A few years ago I received a letter from a Catholic gentleman, named Luiz G —, living in the interior of Pernambuco. He had seen our leaflet offering Bibles for sale and, enclosing about a dollar, asked to be supplied with a Catholic Bible having the Pope’s approval. I replied that such a book would cost three pounds, but that I could furnish him with the same book, less the pictures, the Pope’s approval, and the Apocrypha — yet nevertheless quite authentic and complete, and in accordance with the index of St. Jerome and St. Augustine — for the price of fifty cents post free. He replied that he only wanted a Catholic Bible; so I returned the money, plus a few tracts.
A little later came another letter with three pounds enclosed, and with some difficulty I obtained a copy of the Catholic Bible from Rio, it being the very last copy of the only edition available. Within three months Senhor Luiz wrote again: “I beg to ask all the believers in Jesus Christ to pray for my conversion. I have many difficulties.” Because of that “approved” Bible the local priest had sought to ruin his business and turn the town against him. Thereupon many hundreds of Prayer Circle members and others made this a matter of special prayer; while I continued the correspondence with ever increasing hopefulness. Only a few days before setting out on my last long journey to the Carajá Indians I received a beautiful letter from Senhor Luiz, telling me that the great decision was made, and signing himself “Your brother in Jesus Christ.”
Since then I have made a journey to his town, and found that the Pope’s Bible has done wonders indeed. The priests may well be afraid of their own Bible! Not only Senhor Luiz himself, but many neighbors and friends had also taken the same step. Persecution by the priest had only served to stiffen his conviction and to show him the true inwardness and spirit of his late religion. To my astonishment I found a fine Gospel Mission Hall, one of the best buildings in the town, entirely built at Senhor Luiz’s own expense. Much of the decoration and all the beautiful texts which lavishly adorned its walls were his own handiwork. On the outside of the building, easily seen by all who enter the town, he had placed a huge carved Bible, inscribed with the words, “Search the Scriptures,” and “Repent and believe the Gospel.”
On the night of my arrival I had the intense satisfaction of preaching to an attentive congregation of several hundreds of people.
This Church has now a membership of over a hundred, and a new building has become necessary.
The following translation of a letter received by the author from a very distant part of Brazil is a concluding illustration of what this chapter seeks to emphasize: “E. S. PAULO, IGUAPE, 16th December. 1921.
“ESTEEMED SIR,―am glad to tell you that, together with your esteemed letter of 16th November, I had the immense satisfaction of receiving the most precious treasure that could be given me by human hands — the Holy Bible―which you so generously sent me....
“Today, in spite of the little I have studied, I am assured of the truth of what is there found, and without seeking to allude to the beauties observable, and the wise sayings that there present themselves, it is enough to say that I have learned to love and serve God.
“I feel another man; quieter, more resigned, and much more happy; and for this offering a thousand thanks to God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
“I sign myself with much esteem, your humble servant. J. de A.”
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Thus we find that the integral Bible, untampered with by those unspeakable Philistines — the “Higher Critics” — is a mighty, irresistible power in itself wherever humble, contrite hearts are found. IT WORKS!
It does just what the Almighty purposed it should do: “These things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His Name” (1 John 5:13); whereas, the abridged, revised, and patched-up Bible of the “reverend” but unregenerate critics won’t work! Nay, it slays its tens of thousands in these days of “pure reason” and worldly-wise professors. Thank God this plague has not yet reached Brazil!