Virves was not the only Spaniard who imbibed in Germany views which nearly approached to those of the Reformation. Several learnt more than he did in the land of Luther, and exerted an influence on the Peninsula. Curiosity was awakened, and people wanted to know what that reformation was of which so much was said. Spain, rigid and antique, began to be astir. Meetings were held in the country and secret associations were formed. The Inquisition, astonished, turned in all directions its searching eyes. In vain were learned theologians sent to Germany and other lands for the purpose of bringing back to the church of Rome those who were leaving it. The doctors themselves returned to Spain, conquered by the truth against which they were to fight.[42] Many of them became victims to their faith after their return to their native land; others became martyrs in foreign lands. CHAPTER II. REFORMATION AND INQUISITION. [Sidenote: SECRET MEETINGS.] Seville and Valladolid were the two principal seats of the awakening. These towns were at this time, properly speaking, the two capitals of Spain. In both of them evangelical Christians used to meet together secretly to worship God in spirit and in truth, and to confirm each other in the faith and in obedience to the commandments of the Lord. There were monasteries nearly all the members of which had received the doctrine of the Gospel. It had, moreover, adherents scattered about in all parts of the Peninsula. Rodrigo de Valerio, the lay reformer of Spain, continued his labors in Seville. He held conversations daily with the priests and the monks. 'Pray how comes it to pass,' he said to them, 'that not only the clergy but the whole Christian community is found to be in so lamentable a condition that there seems to be hardly any hope of a remedy for it? It is you that are the cause of this state of things. The corruption of your order has corrupted every thing. Lose no time in applying an efficient remedy to so vast an evil. Be yourselves transformed that you may be able to transform others.' Valerio supported these eloquent appeals by the declarations of Holy Scripture. The priests were astonished and indignant. 'Whence comes the audacity,' they said, 'with which you assail those who are the very lights and pillars of the Church?[43] How dare a mere layman, an unlettered man, who has been occupied solely in secular affairs and in ruining himself, speak with such insolence?... Who commissioned you, and where is the seal of your calling?' 'Assuredly,' replied Valerio, candidly, 'I did not acquire this wisdom from your corrupt morals; it comes from the Spirit of God, which flows, like rivers of living water, from those who believe in Jesus Christ. As for my boldness, it is given by him who sends me. He is the truth itself which I proclaim. The Spirit of God is not bound to any order, least of all to that of a corrupt clergy.