the infinitely good God would arrest such as these on the way to Damascus! that the hand so gentle and so strong of his infinite pity might cause to fall from the vision of their hearts the scales which hinder their sight of the true light, which would thus make them chosen vessels to preach to the gentiles the veritable gospel of the grace of God.”[1]
These earnest words, in which one kind of zeal seems to
outrun any kind of charity, may well introduce the second
section of our large theme.
II. Roman Catholic Missionaries among the Indians. —
We have to recognize the fact that the whole world-wide
communion representing the Roman Church has found
vastly more encouragement and satisfaction in its missionary
work among the Indians and elsewhere than have the
Protestant folds. True, the Protestants have no secrets
about such matters. Everything of success or failure
becomes public. It may be that in the Roman Church
discipline and authority suppress what it would be
discouraging to divulge, and that we do not know of
shortcomings and failures. However this may be, it is worthy
of emphatic statement, that in no one of the voluminous
and minute reports returned to their superiors by the
priests is there to be found any confession of regret, of
disappointment of expectation, of unrewarded labor, — any
looking back to easy and cheering fields from the most
lonely, gloomy, and saddened wildernesses of stern
exposure, peril, and toil. There are no more sunny, hopeful,
and grateful laborers than these hard-tasked missionaries.
All of them seemed to wear rose-colored glasses. These
devoted men, absolutely secluded from all the exciting and
engrossing interests and incidents of public and civilized
life, with no personal or political ambitions, no means for
self-indulgence even in listless idleness, very few mental
resources save in their engrossment upon the most rudi-
- ↑ Quoted in Joseph James Hargrave's “Red River” Appendix.
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