Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/407

Rh read, and as I noted their earnest and devout attention to the reading of Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple, and to the preaching as I saw the peace and joy reflected on their faces, and in some cases the tear of penitence or gratitude stealing down their cheeks,—I longed to be able to photograph the scene and place it before all our Christian people at home who have loved and prayed for the Mexican work as a proof to them that their gifts and prayers have been most signally blest."

Junapeo has its counterpart in many a town and hamlet in Mexico. Help from abroad seems to stimulate to the utmost these generous people. The Indians, the chief actors in every anti-Protestant riot, furnish also the greatest numbers in the harvest of souls gathered by Protestant missions. The heaviest part of the work of evangelization now going on in Mexico is done by native brethren whose zeal and faithfulness have already been blessed to the saving of hundreds of souls in fields which have been entirely tilled by them. As soon as possible it is intended that the work shall be left entirely in the hands of the native ministry.

Many who are noting the signs of the times in Mexico believe that greater persecutions are in store for Protestants there than they have yet experienced. The star of conservatism seems to be once more in the ascendant, and Rome rejoices. She is still plotting against every principle on which Mexican liberties have been established. But, amid the turnings and overturnings to which these revolutionary people are subject, Christ is building up his kingdom among them on foundations firmer than the great mountains on which their cities stand. As "a leader and commander to the people" he