SUCH work as that described in my different books could only be made possible through the most generous and hearty co-operation of the Bible Societies. To the American Bible Society of New York, and to the British and Foreign Bible Society, is due a very great share of credit for the results obtained. This is doubtless true of all that is best in evangelistic work throughout the world, and if only missionary-hearted people realized more fully the very important part played by these Societies in preaching the Gospel to every creature, then their enthusiastic support of these “Handmaids of Foreign Missions” would be intensified.
A very large proportion of the conversions recorded from year to year from different mission fields is directly due to the reading of the New Testament, and of this there is abundant evidence.
Only lately a well-known Brazilian pastor in Rio related the following story:
“In the State of Minas I became acquainted with one of the most feared gunmen of the region. Obliged to defend his father’s home from highwaymen, this man became an outlaw, and, as row followed row, he grew to be the most feared man in that region. His appearance at any place was cause for apprehension and horror; he was charged with many crimes, and was called ‘the Wolf of the Forest.’ While engaged in one adventure of his uncertain and hazardous life, he passed through the district where I lived, and I invited him to come to my house, which he did. He placed his Winchester against the wall, and, while waiting for the customary cup of coffee, he with bitterness related to me the episodes of his vagrant, uncertain, and restless life, always pursued by the police and by his rank enemies. As a token of his visit I gave him a New Testament, and also a ‘Pilgrim’s Progress.’
“After a year, more or less, I was surprised by another visit from that ‘Wolf of the Forest.’ He was not carrying his Winchester this time, nor his pistol, nor his knife. He told me he had been converted, and he came to deliver himself to the authorities and to be judged by them. His stay in my home was short, and soon I saw him disappear round the corner on his way to the police station.
“Before we parted, however, he made me promise to wait for him on the day of his trial at the meeting of Barra do Manhaussú, for, he said, if he should be absolved, on this same day he would make public confession of his faith, as was his ardent desire to do. But, in case he should not be pardoned, it was his intention then, during his long years of imprisonment, to occupy his time in the evangelization of the criminals.
“On the day of the trial I went to wait for the result, as agreed upon, about a mile and a half from the city. To me it seemed impossible that he should be absolved; he had committed so many crimes, and was so feared, that only an act of Providence could save him. We spent the time of waiting in prayer. The hours dragged on. The night advanced. Near ten o’clock we heard steps approaching. Then a nervous knock. We opened the door. It was he.
“The court had found extenuating circumstances for his crimes, and, taking into consideration that the criminal had delivered himself up voluntarily, and had good deportment during the long months of waiting for the trial, resolved to pardon him.
“Free from prison, his great wish was to confess his faith. He was examined; he knew the truth of redemption, and gave proof of being sincerely repentant; I therefore decided to receive him and baptize “When he departed I accompanied him through the yard, and as I bade him good, bye, I felt that the fragrance of the nearby forest enveloped us both. I insist that is impossible to estimate the value of the service rendered to Brazil by the Bible Societies, which stand forth sublime and invincible through the regeneration of her sons.”
Such instances as the foregoing could be, multiplied, nor do they only apply to the criminals and outcasts of society. Some of the finest men of the country have been brought to God through the same means that won that “wolf of the forest.” The proprietor of the chief newspaper of Brazil and of South America is a devoted believer in the Bible, about which he has written considerably. Januzzi, the greatest architect of Brazil, is another sincere convert, as also have been several presidents of different states. Dr. Jose Paranagua was recognized as one of the leading men in the political life of the country, and was for some time president of the state of Piauhy. In the course of a long cross-country journey to the coast to take steamer for the city of Rio de Janeiro, in fulfillment of his duties as a Federal senator, while being ferried across a river he witnessed a very dangerous quarrel between two workmen, in which foul words were soon succeed by blows. At this moment a man intervened between the contending parties. He was a seller of books, and seemed to have a kindly nature, and soon persuaded the antagonists to desist from their strife, as fellow-countrymen, and both created by the same God; and thus in kindly fashion the peace was made.
Deeply impressed by the conduct and language of the colporteur―for such he was―the senator entered into conversation with him, and after inquiring about the books he was selling, he bought a New Testament.
As he traveled across the country he read that book and became sincerely interested and convinced of the Truth. A seemingly chance encounter with a missionary soon afterward settled the matter, and he was converted and baptized. His conversion made a great impression among his old friends, for he was never ashamed of hi faith. He died in 1926, when over seventy years of age. When the news reached Ride Janeiro, a member of the Federal Congress spoke before the House, and among other things said: “This, our noble fellow-countryman, became in his last hours a Brazilian Tolstoi. Enjoying high distinction, he abandoned all to exercise personally a mission of education in the town of Correntes, where he had his cradle at birth, and where death plucked him. A man of vision, Paranagua believed in the instruction and in the evangelization of these people.”
It is not too much to say that the Bible is already a power in the country, where it is beginning to make its influence felt among all classes. So real is this influence that the Church of Rome has been compelled of late to publish several editions of the Gospels with the usual copious notes and explanations, though the results have generally been so unfavorable to her pretensions that these editions have been strictly limited, and sometimes recalled altogether.
May many be led to devote their lives to the scattering of this precious seed, beginning in our own dear homelands, for the results are assured. “My Word shall not return to Me void.”
Mr. Stanley Baldwin described the Bible as a “high explosive,” and revolutionary in character. May this book witness to the truth of this testimony, and lead others to test the efficacy of the Divine weapon, the only foe that Rome really fears.