Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-25
PRoTEsTANTIsM IN CUBA.
Not Enough Protestant Churches for
the Demand.

From the Literary Digest.
Ninety-fve per cent Of the Cubans do not
habitually attend any church, says Bishop
Warren A. Gambler OF the Methodist Epis-
copal Church South, writing of the Pres
ent Religious Conditions in Cuba in the
Independent. OF the remainder who 60 10
church the bishop is inclined to believe that
their sympathies are more nearly with the
Protestants than with the Roman Catho-
lies. But Professionalism, upon a general
and permanent basis. is Of SO recent estab-
lishment, dating practically from the year
1899. that there are not enough places of
worship on the island to meet the demands
of the situation" Says the writer:
when the Protestant missionaries be-
gan their labors they found the island a
land filled with religious indifference, in
which there was considerable amount Of
downright and outspoken inf1delity of the
Voltafre type. The Roman Catholic Church
by reason of its social connection with the
Spanish government and from other causes,
had lost it's hold upon the Cuban people
and no other form of Christianity had been
embraced by them
Very much the same state of things re-
ligious continues. says the bishop, though
there are tangible results to be observed
for the seven years of missionary effort.
Thus:
THE agents and colporteurs Of the
AHlSllCstll olDle SOClety ana the Protest.
ant preachers have scattered among the
people tens of thousands of copies of the
Bible. These Bibles have not been given
away, for If they had they soon would
have been thrown away. Most of them
have been sold to people who wished to
own them and We're willing to pay for
them. 1t is now impossible to get these
books out of Cuba or to restrain the in
fluence of them.
with the coming of Professionalism into
Cuba has come also a new type of sacred
songs Roman Catholicism has its chants,
requiems and the like, but II has no hymns
of joy. These are the peculiar treasure Of
evangelical Christianity. Thou
sands of Cubans are now singing these
songs. There is no way to estimate the
pervasive power of these evangelical hymns.
1t must be candidly admitted that many OF
the hymns of the Wesleys and Moody and
Sankey; but. despite their many blem-
ishes and defects, they have power with
people who have had no such hymns be-
fore. Cuba, well as all Spanish America,
awaits the coming of its Watts and Its
Charles Wesley; but when they come. as
they will i'm time, they will find in these
Latin lands better hymns than Watts and
Wesley found in England when they came
singing their songs of salvation through
the eighteenth century,.
The bishop records a movement for the
better observance OF Sunday throughout
Cuba while in Havana definite action has
heen taken by the municipal authorities.
The ayuntamento directed that ali places
of business be closed on Sundays, except
ing the undertakers, drug stores, restau-
rants cafes, fruit stores, newspaper orllces,
cigar stands and diaries. Bakeries, putcher
shops and provision stores are allowed TO
remain open until 10 am. on Sundays.
The ordinance was strongly supported edl-
torially by some Of the daily papers