Page:Our Neighbor-Mexico.djvu/461

 Rh A letter from Mrs. Watkins narrates this incident:

"The theme upon which he dwelt for some time before his death was 'Sanctification,' as though in unconscious preparation for that life before him upon which he was so shortly to enter. During the last evening of his life he sang several times, in company with others who were present, in Spanish, 'I am traveling, yes, to heaven I am going.' Sooner by far than he expected did he enter the heavenly port, where he is enjoying the bliss prepared for him."

This is the favorite hymn, referred to previously, "Voy al cielo, soy peregrino (page 93), and shows how wide-spread is that familiar melody, and how befitting it proved itself to be in this supreme moment. The Church that slew him hailed his death with the same gladness that it did the like and larger massacre of Saint Bartholomew. A priest in the theological seminary of Guadalajara told his students that when Stephens was killed "the Church had one enemy, and the world one thief, the less;" and "would to God that the other one" (Watkins) "were destroyed." The local government arrested two priests and nine of the people, but all were liberated. It is as impossible to hang one yet, or to punish him in any shape, for murdering a Protestant. Mexico prevents, sometimes, these murders, but is powerless to punish those who may commit them. But their commission will yet be followed by punishment, and Mexico be redeemed from this horrible sin and crime.

The Methodist Episcopal Church South has initiated work in the capital, having secured the Chapel of San Andres, and is preparing missionaries for other sections. The Chapel of San Andres is in the rear of where the Church of St. Andrew stood, which church received the body of Maximilian, on its way to Europe, and where it lay in state. Juarez, consequently, leveled the splendid structure with the ground, and opened a street over the very spot where Maximilian lay.

The Episcopal Church, though not formally present, is the chief patron of the work of Rev. Dr. Riley, which is called the Church of Jesus, and in an indirect, if not direct, form will probably continue to support that organization. The Methodist Episcopal Church