face of the earth.

What is the religious status of Brazil? Is there any call for
Protestant effort? I answer after giving serious study to this
question, and after personal observation of the effects of the
religious practices upon the people, that there is the same
imperative call for missionary effort in Brazil that comes from
China or any other heathen country, viz., the gospel is not
preached to the people.

The priests hold services, to be sure, in the churches, but there
are many churches in Brazil in which there has been no pretense of
preaching a sermon within five years. The priests do not preach.
They say mass, read prayers and sing songs in Latin, a language
which is not understood by the people. Occasionally, a Catholic
fraternity will invite a special orator to preach a sermon upon
some great feast day. This visiting brother does not preach. His
theme upon such an occasion would either be a discussion of the
special saint whose day is being celebrated, or he would speak
upon some civic question which had more or less to do with the
moral or political life of the people. In the interior these
special occasions occur only once every two to five years, so that
even this semblance of a sermon comes rarely. In the cities these
special addresses are made on one saint's day each year or on some
special anniversary, or when some dignitary is making a visit.
Usually this dignitary will say a mass and not preach. When one of
these special days occurs the preaching is not heard very
extensively for the reason that the noise and commotion about the
stalls for gambling, drinking and other attractions is sufficient
to drown the voice of the speaker. These side-show attractions