ies of
spiritism, materialism and atheism. An atheist in South America is just
as difficult to approach as he is anywhere. The devout Catholics are
easier to reach with the gospel. The devout Catholic has at least one
element which must always be reckoned with in dealing helpfully with an
immortal soul. He has reverence, which thing many of those people who
have been swung away from their faith have not. I take no comfort in
the fact that the people in large numbers are deserting the Roman
Catholic church and are being set adrift without any form of religion.
One could wish that they might be held to their old beliefs until we
could reach them with the virile truths of the gospel of Jesus.

We come back to it--the gospel is not preached in Brazil except as it
is preached by the Protestant missionary. The need is just as great for
gospel preaching in this country as it is in China.

One day after I had finished speaking to a congregation in Castello,
back in the interior from Campos, an old English woman came up to me
and expressed her great pleasure over having the privilege of hearing
once more the gospel preached in English. I had spoken in English, and
the missionary had interpreted what I had to say into Portuguese. She
had heard the sermon twice. She had been in Brazil thirty-odd years.
She and her husband had lived in the far interior. They had recently
moved down to Castello that they might be near the little church where
they could have the opportunity of worshiping God. She told me that
back in the town in which they had lived they had left two sons who
were engaged in business for themselves. These two sons had been born
in Brazil, and yet in all their lives THEY HAD NEVER HEARD A GOSPEL
SERMON. Yes, these people are without the gospel and this is our
justification for carrying to them the message of life. For them Christ
died, and to them, because they have not heard, He has sent us that we
might bring His precious message of eternal salvation, for "How shall
they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher?"

CHAPTER VIII.

THE GOSPEL TRIUMPHANT.

It is often claimed that the progress of the gospel is slower and more
difficult in Catholic countries than in outright heathen lands. Such
statements can be answered only by an appeal to the facts in the case.
What are the facts? The Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist
Convention has been conductin