“In the year 1808 Portugal was invaded by Napoleon Buonaparte, and the sovereign of that kingdom, John VI., fled to Brazil, accompanied by his court and a large body of emigrants.  The king was warmly received by the Brazilians, and immediately set about improving the condition of the country.  He threw open its ports to all nations; freed the land from all marks of colonial dependence; established newspapers; made the press free, and did everything to promote education and industry.  But although much was done, the good was greatly hindered, especially in the inland districts, by the vice, ignorance, and stupidity of many of the Roman Catholic priests, who totally neglected their duties,—­which, indeed, they were incompetent to perform,—­and in many instances, were no better than miscreants in disguise, teaching the people vice instead of virtue.

“Foremost among the priests who opposed advancement was a descendant of the ‘man of fire,’ Padre Caramuru dwelt for some years with an English merchant in the capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro.  The padre was not an immoral man, but he was a fiery bigot, and fiercely opposed everything that tended to advance the education of the people.  This he did, firmly believing that education was dangerous to the lower orders.  His church taught him, too, that the Bible was a dangerous book; and whenever a copy fell into his hands he immediately destroyed it.  During the disturbances that took place after the time of King John’s departure for Portugal, and just before Brazil became an independent state under his son, the Emperor Don Pedro I., Padre Caramuru lost a beloved and only brother.  He was quite a youth, and had joined the army only a few months previously, at the desire of his elder brother the padre, who was so overwhelmed by the blow that he ceased to take an active part in church or political affairs and buried himself in a retired part of his native valley.  Here he sought relief and comfort in the study of the beauties of Nature by which he was surrounded, but found none.  Then he turned his mind to the doctrines of his church, and took pleasure in verifying them from the Bible.  But as he proceeded he found, to his great surprise, that these doctrines were, many of them, not to be found there; nay, further, that some of them were absolutely contradicted by the word of God.

“Padre Caramuru had been in the habit of commanding his people not to listen to the Bible when any one offered to read it; but in the Bible itself he found these words, ‘Search the Scriptures.’  He had been in the habit of praying to the Virgin Mary, and begging her to intercede with God for him; but in the Bible he found these words:  ’There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.’  These things perplexed him much.  But while he was thus searching, as it were, for silver, the ignorant padre found gold!  He found that he did not require to work for salvation, but to ask for it.  He discovered that the atonement had been made once for all by Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God; and he read with a thrilling heart these words:  ’God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’