Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible SocietyBorrow, George
Religion
Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible Society
Borrow, George
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Correspondence; British and Foreign Bible Society; English letters
but on the contrary everything to praise, adding that he believed that
the clergy must be possessed with devils (_endemoniados_) to persecute it
in the manner which they did.
It was Sunday when the seizure was made, and I happened to be reading the
Liturgy. One of the _alguacils_ when going away made an observation
respecting the very different manner in which the Protestants and
Catholics keep the Sabbath, the former being in their houses reading good
books, and the latter abroad in the bull ring, seeing the wild bulls
tearing out the gory bowels of the poor horses. The bull amphitheatre at
Seville is, as you perhaps may have heard, the finest in all Spain, and
is invariably on a Sunday, the only day in which it is open, filled with
applauding multitudes.
I am happy to be able to say that the soil of Spain is now tolerably well
broken up, and to a certain degree prepared for the labours of any future
missionaries bearing the blessed Bible, who may visit this interesting
part of the world. We have had considerable difficulty hitherto in
circulating Testaments, and we have merely been enabled to scatter about
the thousands, which are now being read, by very extraordinary exertions.
Nevertheless when I take a large view of the subject I feel inclined to
believe that we were right in commencing our labours in the interior of
Spain by printing an edition of the New Testament at Madrid. I much
doubt whether the astonishing demand for the Bible, which almost
compelled me to leave the capital, and which now shows itself at Seville
and other places, for example, Burgos, Valladolid, and Saint James of
Galicia, to the great mortification of the Popish clergy, would have
arisen but for the appearance of the New Testament which awaked in
people's minds the desire of possessing the entire Scripture. With great
humility, however, I feel disposed to advise that provided at any future
time the Society should think itself called upon to recommence its
exertions here in the cause of a crucified Saviour, it employ, as its
mighty instrument the Bible, the entire blessed Bible; having
nevertheless always ready for distribution a certain quantity of
Testaments, the wishes of weak human beings being influenced by such
strange causes that it is probable that were it known at Madrid, or in
other places, that there was a dearth of Testaments, the demand for the
same would instantly become greater than for the entire Bible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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