rticularly impressed with the Ten Commandments.

Now, we must introduce into this narrative another character in the
person of good Brother Madeiros. Some time before this, having become
interested in the gospel, he had gone to Bahia and had been instructed
by Missionary Z. C. Taylor in the truth to such good purpose that he
gave himself to the Lord. His neighbors at Valenca, his native town, on
learning of his having accepted Christ, drove him out, and he moved to
Vargem Grande. But he found no rest in his new home, for his fellow
townsmen so persecuted him that he was compelled to live in the
outskirts of the town. He was the first believer in Vargem Grande. When
Marciano de Almeida became interested in the Scriptures he went to see
Madeiros and was instructed by him in the gospel. He told the
persecuted saint that he would stand by him from now on, for Marciano
had experienced a marvelous conversion.

On learning that his images were idols, Marciano collected all
immediately and burnt them, greatly to the disgust of his family and
the whole town. He began at once to declare the Word of God, and though
he was as gentle as a lamb, he was also as bold as a lion in defending
the gospel.

When his brother, Captain Egydio de Almeida, who lived sixty miles
away, learned that Marciano had become converted, he made the journey
to take out of his brother's heart the false teaching which he had
imbibed. He pitied his brother, thinking that Marciano's mind had
become unbalanced. When Captain Egydio arrived at his brother's in
Vargem Grande, being a very positive man, he set about the business of
straightening out his brother with dispatch and determination. He
failed in his purpose, and then called in a priest. When he returned
with the priest Marciano asked the two to be seated. Immediately the
priest inquired, "What is this I am hearing about you, Marciano?" He
replied, "Mr. Priest, I am thirty-five years old and you never gave me
the Bible, God's Holy Law and as God ordered it. I came by it through
the Protestants whom you have always abused. You have taken my money
all these years for mass, saying you would take the souls of our kin
out of a purgatory that does not exist. You taught me to worship idols
which God's Word condemns. You sprinkle my children for money, marry
them for money, and when they die you still demand money to save their
souls from an imaginary purgatory. The Bible teaches me, on the other
hand, that Go