Catholic; that in no other land is that opposition, when not held in check by civil authority, more likely to proceed to murderous violence."
With all that makes Mexico one of the most fruitful of mission-fields, it has been called with truth one of the most difficult and dangerous. Scarcely one of the early Protestant churches but has its martyrs, and sometimes many of them. The Church of Jesus has had forty. One missionary writes: "More than once I have looked out on a sea of maddened creatures ready to tear me limb from limb, almost succeeding in forcing an entrance into the house, even cutting a large hole in the door, but held back by the unseen Hand." The same writer says, "The Mexicans are a revolutionary people more used to a breach of than obedience or respect to law. At times they seem to be incapable of anything which is necessary in deliberative bodies."
The Church party has stirred up the worst elements of society against the Protestants. Again and again the hand of a bishop or other dignitary of the Church has been discerned behind the scenes of violence which are constantly occurring. The advice of the curate of Ahualulco has more than once been given to stir up a fanatical mob. In one case the preacher gave the street and number where Protestant missionaries could be found. In Capulhuac, an Indian town not far from the capital, Louis Gonzales, the first man who dared to present his child for baptism in a Protestant church, was killed for his audacity; at Tisapan five of the brethren who came out were murdered in seven years. Until 1880, Protestants were often forced by mob-law to bow to the Host as it was carried about in processions, but
