278 A YEAR IN BRAZIL. 



permanent charge on the military hst by an aviso of August 13, 

 1833. . . . The image of Sao Antonio of Ouro Preto, Minas 

 Geraes, attained the rank and pay of captain by an aviso of 

 February 26, 1799. His career has been an uneventful one, and 

 has been confined principally to the not-unpleasant task of draw- 

 ing ^480 a month from the public treasury. The salaries of all 

 these soldierly images are drawn by duly constituted attorneys, 

 and are devoted to such repairs and furbishing as the wear and 

 tear of their annual campaigns may render necessary. The 

 balance left over is devoted to the private expenses of their 

 households." * 



The iniquity of indulgences still obtains. I have elsewhere 

 referred to the most flagrant sin of authorizing marriages within 

 the prohibited degrees. Other indulgences, such as permission to 

 eat meat more than once a day in Lent, are comparatively trivial, 

 as thereby sin is not licensed ; but, as I said to some Brazilians, if 

 a thing be wrong, paying money will not make it right. If it be a 

 matter of conscience, and ill-health or weakness compel any one 

 to set aside the -rules of the Church, surely the priest should give 

 such permission, without payment being exacted. 



The prohibition of reading the Bible, originally instituted 

 owing to the tendency of sects and individuals to distort the 

 Scriptures to suit their own ideas, has proved to be evil in its con- 

 sequences, and to-day the Roman Church chiefly fears the laity 

 getting hold of the Bible, because they would then find out how 

 much they have been taught which has no foundation in the 

 Scriptures. I spoke to many intelligent men in Brazil who, 

 having read the Bible, have discovered this, and cannot understand 

 the continual promulgation of new doctrines as articles of faith ; 

 but they said, " All human systems have more or less error, and we 

 know of no better.'' 



I also met with many who longed to read the Bible, thankfully 

 receiving and carefully reading the Gospels or New Testaments 

 that I gave them. Though there is so much that needs reforming, 

 I never tried to unsettle their minds or make them dissatisfied 

 with their faith, but merely to give them a fuller knowledge and 

 clearer appreciation of the history of the life, death, and resur- 



* Rio News, July 5, 1884. 



