NEARLY a hundred years ago an Edinburgh physician named Robert Kalley felt called to dedicate his life and talents to the Master’s service, and he never looked back.
First in Madeira, and then in Brazil, the marvelous results that followed the many years of stirring and tempestuous evangelistic labors of this apostolic hero entitle him to a place among the foremost pioneer missionaries of our age.
At first he was greatly attracted to China, but was not allowed to go forward for health reasons. Then by God’s providence his attention was drawn to the beautiful little Portuguese island of Madeira. In those early days no missionary society had ever thought of the dire need of the Roman Catholic world, so the good doctor decided to start work on his own account, using his profession as a means to open up the way to direct Gospel effort, consecrating all his time and energy to the winning of sinners to the Saviour.
He commenced operations on the island by teaching English, free of charge, the Bible being the textbook used.
As soon as he knew enough Portuguese, the astonished poor were invited to receive gratuitous medical aid, and soon the sick of Madeira flocked to the home of this unlooked-for friend. A little later on free elementary schools were started in Funchal―the capital―and in the villages around.
A hospital soon became an imperative need, and while Dr. Kalley was preparing a small house for the purpose, an incident occurred, the first of many such to follow, which may be related in his own words.
“I think it was in the summer of 1840 that Senhor Arsenio da Silva, father-in-law of one of the principal judges of the island. first came to consult me about his daughter’s health, and, having prescribed for he, we had a little conversation about the soul. After several visits, he asked to see me at my own house. de came, and on my inquiring of what subject he wished to speak, said: ‘I want to know how a guilty man, under the government of a just God, can escape the punishment which he deserves?’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘tell me what you think about it.’
“‘I understand,’ he replied, ‘that in baptism the death of Christ is applied so as to free from original sin,’ and then he went on to speak of penances, etc., for actual transgression.
“I interrupted him by saying: ‘I understand that the Blood of Christ cleanses from all sin.’
“‘What?’ he cried.
“‘I understand,’ I repeated, ‘that the Blood of Christ cleanses from all sin, of every kind.’
“‘Tell me that again.’
“‘No,’ I said, ‘but read here―and here,’ and I pointed to several texts.
“Great tears rolled down his cheeks as he read the words of God; and the doctrine of His free love, in pardoning the chief of sinners, broke on his soul for the first time. I had often heard of him as ‘O Avarento’ ― The Miser. At the time of this interview I was furnishing a small hospital. He sent me a large basket full of sheets, towels, and other things, with a note saying, ‘My heart was gangrened; it has felt the power of the love of God, and I send you the firstfruits of it.’ This gentleman suffered much for his faith, and was among those who were eventually compelled to abandon the island for Christ’s sake.”
So far there had been little or no opposition except on the part of the “doctors,” who resented this interference with their own gains, but by that time the good man had so completely captivated the inhabitants by his benevolence and goodness, that the doctors lost the day.
Little by little the Bible was divulgated throughout the island, and the surprise of the people was as great as that of any heathen when they found what it contained, just as happens in Brazil today.
One natural result of this sowing was the beginning of little Gospel meetings. These developed rapidly in number, and sometimes thousands of Roman Catholics assembled in the open air, drawn from and far by the wonderful words of life and hope.
The Roman Catholic Churches began to get deserted, and then followed long and stirring times of great persecution in which the native converts were tested as by fire. They were beaten, and sometimes driven into the surrounding forests, while their houses and belongings went up in flames. Some were imprisoned for years in filthy, pestilential prisons, and every indignity inflicted upon them, yet their faith failed not, and some of these became pioneer colporteurs in Brazil at a later date.
Dr. Kalley stood to his post, and bravely faced the storm of calumny and fanatical hatred of the Catholic priests, and set a great example of patient endurance to the little flock. Finally he himself was imprisoned for six months in the Funchal jail, and was only released through the tardy influence of the British Government.
So much for the vaunted kindliness and toleration of Rome when she has power!
Stirring times followed the doctor’s release, and hundreds of believers were compelled to seek refuge in other lands. At last the end came, when an overwhelming mob, plied with liquor by the priests, and drawn from a part of Madeira where Dr. Kalley was little known, broke into his home and hospital, destroyed all his property and sought to assassinate the man of God who for eight years had only endeavored to do them good.
Only by a singular series of providences, including the unexpected arrival of a British steamer, the doctor was enabled to escape from the island, rolled up in a fisherman’s net carried by friendly hands.
It was about this time that Dr. Kalley met his future wife and faithful helper and partner in all that follows.
In 1853 Dr. Kalley took charge of some hundreds of refugees from Madeira, forced to leave their homes and country through Papal intolerance. Like a new band of Pilgrim Fathers, the doctor carried them across to America, founding a Christian Portuguese colony in the State of Illinois which remains to this day.
After remaining with the little colony a short time, seeking to enlarge their knowledge, faith, and love, he became ranch impressed by news of the terrible spiritual destitution of Brazil, and felt that his knowledge of the language and the experience acquired in Madeira justified a hope of becoming a means of light and deliverance in that great Empire, as it then was.
In May, 1855, Dr. and Mrs. Kalley landed in Rio de Janeiro.
At first the doctor resolved to proceed with great caution, and to avoid publicity, he being the only Protestant missionary in the country. But within a few days met with so many people he had helped or befriended in Madeira, that all such methods were soon abandoned. At that period only Christian agency in Brazil was a newly established depot of The British and Foreign Bible Society, so the doctor sent for some of his old converts from Madeira, and trained them as Bible colporteurs, sending them far and wide.
This important step colored all succeeding missionary enterprise, and gave the work in Brazil its distinctive Bible character throughout.
He had not been long in Rio before the Papal Legate applied to the Brazilian Government to compel Dr. Kalley to either abstain from speaking about religion, or to leave Brazil. The Legate’s protest was ignored, and the Emperor Dom Pedro himself became the doctor’s friend from that hour, a friendship that developed into one of mutual respect and esteem as the years went by.
This was but the first of many victories won by this single-handed servant of the King against all the massed powers of Rome, in a land where she had full and despotic sway, and he lived to see the Legate himself compelled to leave Brazil, and the Church of Rome itself disestablished.
Meanwhile, the persecution of the priests became untiring and perfectly unscrupulous. Time and time again his house was besieged by furious mobs, bent on destruction and death. The number of believers grew rapidly, and the sales of Bibles and Testaments increased by leaps and bounds. Many good tracts were prepared, and a translation of “Pilgrim’s Progress” appeared.
Very soon an attempt was made to carry the Good News into a neighbouring State, and at this the hatred and violence of Rome burst forth anew, which I will describe in the doctor’s own words: “The threatening and insulting language was much worse; fireworks were exploded in the room among those met for worship: and the determination to put down such meetings by club law was loudly avowed, while the street was crowded with rioters, whose vociferations rang through the house. Having no available means of defense or escape from the enemies within the building. Mrs. Kalley and myself went out into the street, accompanied by a small number of earnest Christian men, and placed ourselves in the doubtful protection of the police, who formed round us; but we were followed by a cursing, raging mob, throwing stones and dirt, and shouting, ‘Death to the Protestant.’ About midway between the house and the ferry boat, the wild fury of the mob was very threatening; the police obliged us to stop, placed themselves between us and the rioters, drew their swords, and made signals for help. When reinforcements arrived we were safely conducted to the ferry boat.”
Writing of another such frequent happening, he says: “One Lord’s Day evening in August, 1861, when the afternoon congregation had dispersed, and before the evening inquirers had assembled, a mob gathered round the house in Rio. The rioters came armed with clubs and stones, uttering hideous threats and yells, and shouting, ‘Biblia! Biblia!’ in all imaginable tones of scorn and rage. The windows were soon smashed, and the tiles of the roof broken, and if the house had not been built on the top of a rock, without access except by a long, exposed stair, they would no doubt have burst open the door and barbarously maltreated, probably killed, all who were within.
“At one time the mob was making a rush up the stair to the door, when a well-directed bottle from one of the windows was dashed upon the stone of the side wall just before them. It broke into a shower of pieces of glass, and they retreated; but they persevered in shouting, threatening, and bombarding the house with stones for three hours before being interfered with by the police” ―who at that time were largely at the beck and call of the priests.
It was in the face of such opposition that the Gospel gained its first foothold in Brazil, and today there are at least fifty important evangelical congregations in the city of Rio alone, besides many fine institutions and Christian agencies, including one of the finest hospitals in Brazil.
It was not, however, the zeal and courage of the Kalleys that made the deepest or most lasting impression, but rather the saintly character of this admirable couple, which has left an ineffaceable mark upon the churches in Brazil.
His next great work was to translate many of our finest hymns into Portuguese; to which a number of his own composition were added, and a music edition published, now, used, in an enlarged form, by nearly all the churches in Brazil.
Dr. Kalley never organized any missionary society to support this work, but constituted a Brazilian self-supporting Church. By this time other Christian workers had begun to arrive in Brazil, principally from America, and all these found valuable assistance in the opening-up work through Dr. Kalley’s well-trained colporteurs, and this, as already has been mentioned, largely determined the methods and character of the new societies. So much is this true that the early believers were all called “Biblias” (Bibles), and “Death to the Bibles” was the popular Papal slogan of that day.
In 1873 Dr. Kalley visited the North of Brazil at the earnest invitation of two of his colporteurs. A church was organized in Recife at that time, which was soon after carried forward by the pioneer missionary for North Brazil, James Fanstone.
This heroic young man landed in Pernambuco on a pair of crutches, and, with such a terrible handicap, and in the face of much mockery and of similar persecution as that endured by Dr. Kalley, he strengthened the work and extended its border into the far interior of Pernambuco, while wholly supporting himself and large family by teaching English to the Brazilians.
Dr. Kalley died in 1888, and James Fanstone has now retired from Brazil, leaving two of his children in his place. Much of the splendid spiritual prospect that Brazil now presents is due to the self-sacrificing lives and holy examples of Kalley and Fanstone.