It is often told of the Protestant worker that he keeps behind his
door an image of the Blessed Virgin, and, when entering or leaving
the house, he spits in her face. No pains are spared to stamp out any
dissenting work, and the missionary is made a by-word of opprobrium.
I have repeatedly had the doors and windows of my preaching places
broken and wrecked. The priests have incited the vulgar crowd to hoot
and yell at me, and on these occasions I have been both shot at and
stoned.
In Cordoba, there is a very costly image of Mary. Once every year it
is brought out into the public square, while all the criminals from
the state prison stand in line. By a move of her head she is supposed
to point out the one whom she thinks should be given his liberty.
From Goldsmith's "Rome" we learn that the vestal virgins possessed
the power to pardon any criminal whom they met on the road to
execution. Thus does Romanism follow paganism. With the Virgin is
often the image of St. Peter. The followers of this saint affirm that
they are always warned, three days before they die, to prepare for
death. St. Peter comes in person and knocks on the wall beside their
bed.
As the virgin, Diana, was the guardian of Ephesus, so the Virgin Mary
protects Argentina.
The Bishop of Tucuman, in a recent speech, said: "Argentina is now
safe against possible invasion. The newly-crowned Lady of the
Miracles defends the north, and the Lady of Lujan guards the
south."
A writer in The Times of Argentina naively asks: "If these can
safely defy and defeat all comers, is there any further necessity for
public expenditure in military matters?"
South America groans under the weight of a mediaeval religion which
has little to do with spiritual life. In Spain and Portugal, perhaps
the two most deluded of European lands, I have seen great darkness,
but even there the priest is often good, and at least puts on a
veneer of piety. In South America this is not generally considered
necessary. Frequently he is found to be the worst man in the village.
If you speak to him of his dissolute life, he may tell you that he,
being a priest, may do things you, a layman, must not. In Spain,
Portugal and Italy, next door to highly enlightened countries, the
priest cannot, for very shame, act as he is free to do in South
America. That great continent has been ruled and governed only by
Roman Catholics, without outside interference, and Romanists in other
lands do not, and would not, believe the practices there sanctioned.
"You ask about this nation and the Roman Catholic Church," said the
American Minister in one South American capital.
