The Bible in Spain, Vol. 2 [of 2]: Or, the Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the PeninsulaBorrow, George
Religion
The Bible in Spain, Vol. 2 [of 2]: Or, the Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula
Borrow, George
Borrow, George, 1803-1881 -- Travel -- Spain; Spain -- Description and travel; Spain -- History -- 19th century
I did not commence operations for some time, for I was in a strange
place, and scarcely knew what course to pursue. I had no one to assist
me but poor Antonio, who was as ignorant of the place as myself.
Providence, however, soon sent me a coadjutor in rather a singular
manner. I was standing in the courtyard of the Reyna Posada, where I
occasionally dined, when a man, singularly dressed and gigantically tall,
entered. My curiosity was excited, and I inquired of the master of the
house who he was. He informed me that he was a foreigner, who had
resided a considerable time in Seville, and he believed a Greek. Upon
hearing this, I instantly went up to the stranger, and accosted him in
the Greek language, in which, though I speak it very ill, I can make
myself understood. He replied in the same idiom, and, flattered by the
interest which I, a foreigner, expressed for his nation, was not slow in
communicating to me his history. He told me that his name was Dionysius,
that he was a native of Cephalonia, and had been educated for the Church,
which, not suiting his temper, he had abandoned, in order to follow the
profession of the sea, for which he had an early inclination. That after
many adventures and changes of fortune, he found himself one morning on
the coast of Spain, a shipwrecked mariner, and that, ashamed to return to
his own country in poverty and distress, he had remained in the
Peninsula, residing chiefly in Seville, where he now carried on a small
trade in books. He said that he was of the Greek religion, to which he
professed strong attachment, and, soon discovering that I was a
Protestant, spoke with unbounded abhorrence of the papal system; nay, of
its followers in general, whom he called Latins, and whom he charged with
the ruin of his own country, inasmuch as they sold it to the Turk. It
instantly struck me, that this individual would be an excellent assistant
in the work which had brought me to Seville, namely, the propagation of
the eternal Gospel; and, accordingly, after some more conversation, in
which he exhibited considerable learning, I explained myself to him. He
entered into my views with eagerness, and, in the sequel, I had no reason
to regret my confidence, he having disposed of a considerable number of
New Testaments, and even contrived to send a certain number of copies to
two small towns at some distance from Seville.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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