RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Bratke Brazil
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in Maryland, but there were several in Virginia, two in North Carolina, and one each in Boston, Rhode Island, New York City, Albany, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Charleston. That at Annapolis, Md., was the largest collection of books at the time in the plantations and was the first lending library in the British colonies. Its remains are now in the possession of St. John's College, Annapolis. The remnant of the Boston library is in the Boston Athenaeum.
After a severe illness in 1723 Bray chose four friends to assist in the management of the negro schools and continue his work after his death. Thus originated " Dr. Bray's Associates for Founding Clerical Libraries and Supporting Negro Schools," an association which has continued to exist and in 1906 reported 130 libraries maintained in England and Wales and 153 in sixty-seven colonial and missionary dioceses; during the year two new libraries were founded and negro schools were maintained in Nova Scotia and the Bahama Islands. The
total number of libraries founded in The Bray Great Britain and the colonies is Associates, over 500. About eighty of the total
number were founded by Dr. Bray, exclusive of those established in America. A reorganization of the " Associates " was effected in 1905, and a division of the funds was made whereby the income of an endowment amounting to about £7,000 will be applied to the support of the schools; the remainder of the funds, amounting to about £4,500, will be used to establish, maintain, or augment theological libraries in Great Britain or elsewhere for the use of clergymen of the Church of England and students who are candidates for holy orders.
While at Sheldon, Bray planned A Course of Lectures upon the Church Catechism, in 4 volumes, and completed vol. i, twenty-six lectures, On the Preliminary Questions and Answers (Oxford, 1696); the book proved popular, brought him upward of £700, extended his reputation to London, and helped to secure his appointment as commissary; vols, ii-iv were not completed. In connection with his library plans he published: Bibliotheca
parochialis, or a scheme of such theo- Writings. logical heads as are requisite to be
studied by every pastor of a parish, with a catalogue of books (London, 1697; 2d ed., much changed, 1707); An Essay towards Promoting All Necessary and Useful Knowledge (1697), closing with a catalogue of sixty-three books ' designed to lay the foundation of lending-libraries to be fixed in all the market-towns in England"; Bibliotheca catechetica, or the country curate's library (1702); and Primordia bibliothecaria (1726), in which he gives " several schemes of parochial libraries " and outlines a method " to proceed by a gradual progression from strength to strength, from a collection not much exceeding in value £1 to £100." Several Circular Letters to the Clergy o, (Maryland (1701) treats of the " work of catechising " and the " duty of preaching," with many practical directions for the use of books; a list for a " layman's library " is appended. Of interest as Americana are: a sermon on Apostolic Charity, preceded by A General View of the English Colonies
in America with Respect to Religion (London, 1698); a sermon on The Necessity of an Early Religion, preached before the Assembly of Maryland (Annapolis, 1700; the earliest extant work printed in Maryland); The Acts of Dr. Bray's Visitation at Annapolis, May 23-25, 1700 (London, 1700; reprinted in F. L. Hawks's Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of the United States, vol. ii, New York, 1839, pp. 497-523); A Memorial Representing the Present State of Religion on the Continent of North America (1700). He was a strong Anti-Romanist, and another noteworthy publication was Papal Usurpation and Persecution (1712),. intended as a supplement to Fox's Book of Martyrs. The materials gathered for this volume and a continuation of it, which he did not complete, he left to Sion College, London.
Bibliography: Brays Life and Designs, written probably by Richard Rawlinson (d. 1755) and preserved in manuscript in the Bodleian Library, has been made the basis of all subsequent accounts (such as Public Spirit Illustrated in the Life and Designs of the Rev. Thomas Bray, London, 1746, 2d ed., with notes and the report of the " Associates " for 1807, by Henry J. Todd, 1808), and has been printed in full, with valuable notes and Selected Works Relating to Maryland, by B. C. Steiner, Maryland Historical Society Fund Publication no. 37, Baltimore, 1901. An article by Mr. Steiner in The American Historical Review, ii (1897), 59-75, gives an account of Bray's American libraries. Some information concerning the fate of those in England may be found in the Transactions and Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Library Association of the United Kingdom, pp. 51-53, 145-150, London, 1879. A paper by J. F. Hurst on Parochial Libraries in the Colonial Period, in Papers of the American Society of Church History, vol. ii, part 1, New York, 1890, deals with the Bray libraries. The " Associates " (address, 19 Delahay St., London, S. W.) publish an annual report which contains a brief Memoir of Dr. Bray.
BRAZIL: A republic of eastern South America; area, 3,218,100 square miles; population,15,000,000. Brazil became independent of Portugal by the creation of the Empire of Brazil in 1822, which was superseded without war in 1889 by the United States of Brazil, forming a republic with a new constitution framed in 1891. Each of twenty states sends representatives to the senate and house of deputies, but retains a large measure of selfgovernment. It is expressly forbidden to " create, support, c-r prevent religious denominations," the basal principle being the free exercise of all religions, so far as they are not prejudicial to the publicwelfare. No religion, therefore, receives aid from the State, and civil marriage before a magistrate is legal, while instruction in the schools is required to be secular, the religious orders being suppressed. Simultaneously with the promulgation of this constitution, and partly in consequence of it, there was a rapid increase in immigration from Europe to Brazil, although for many years previously a considerable number of Italians had been coming to the country. This, however, made little change in religious conditions, although in more recent times the German immigration has somewhat increased, and a small number of North Americans has been added to the Italians, particularly in the cities; this increase, predominantly Protestant, is almost negligible in comparison with the numbers of Italians, Portuguese, and Spaniards. Non- German Protestant denominations are also rep-
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