IN my last article on Spain, some of the principal elements which caused the rapid decline in Spanish power, were dealt with. One of the chief causes discussed was the union of church and state, or the influence exerted by the Roman church upon this people.
At the time of the Reformation the Spanish government was at the height of its glory, and it is said of Spain at that time that the sun never set on her possessions. But her cause was an unjust one, and she could not longer prosper. Thousands of the very flower of the Spanish people embraced the teachings heralded to the world by the Reformers of the sixteenth century.
At one time it seemed that Spain would become a Protestant nation, but such was not to be her lot. The tide of affairs was turned; and under the direction of “her invincible Inquisition,” those who had acknowledged the truths of God’s Word, were hunted down as tho they were wild animals, and were tortured with inexpressible cruelties in dark Romish dungeons, founded for that express purpose. Some of those identical dungeons are still to be seen in the Alcazar of Seville, and also in Barcelona.
The work of getting God’s Word into the hands of the Spanish people, has at all times met with great opposition and almost innumerable hindrances. One of the first to bring any considerable quantity of the Spanish Bible across the Pyrenees into Spain, was Julian Hernandez, a Spanish proof-reader of Geneva. Those Bibles were published in Germany.
It was in the month of November, 1556, that Julian Hernandez and a companion, each having a good pack-mule and two burros, crossed the wilds of the Spanish frontier and proceeded down to Seville. They traveled as dry-goods merchants, always manifesting a willingness to expose their goods when confronted by civil guards. Because of this willingness they were permitted to go their way unmolested. Within their packs were concealed those precious treasures, goodly quantities of God’s Holy Word, which was strictly prohibited by the Spanish government at that time.
Referring to about the same time, the historian says, “There existed, in Medina del Campo and in Seville, a permanent depository for the sale of prohibited books.” Unpublished documents give the following information: “From the publishing houses of Germany, they [Bibles, etc.] were sent out to Flanders and from there to Spain, at first by way of seaports, and later, when there was greater vigilance on the part of the government, they were sent to Lyons, France, from whence they were introduced into the peninsula by way of Navarre and Aragon. One Vilman by name, a book-dealer of Amberes, conducted a store in Medina del Campo, and in Seville, where he sold Protestant works published in Spanish and Latin. These books from Frankfort were sold at a low figure, so that they might circulate with greater facility.”
Interior of Barcelona church swept by fire; 47 churches and convents were ruined.
As we read the history of those Reformers, it is very evident to us that God exercised a special care over them and the work they carried forward. But under the despotic reigns of Charles V, Philip II, and their successors, Protestantism was almost stamped out of existence, as far as Spain was concerned. In this fair land, in most parts all that remains to remind one of its former greatness in material things, is an occasional fallen watch-tower, or the ruins of once great cities.
Much less remains to remind one of the influence exerted by God’s Word upon the Spanish people during the Reformation of the sixteenth century.
About 1870 Protestant missionaries began once more to enter this land, whose inhabitants have for so many centuries been denied the light of the Word of life. The darkness here is almost impenetrable; but some headway has been made, the darkness of some hearts has been dispelled by the glowing rays of the eternal truths of God’s Word.
The British and Foreign Bible Society has had a goodly number of colporters in the field for years, and thousands of copies of the Bible have been scattered throughout the land. Thus God has prepared the way for the heralding of His closing message to this benighted people. A greater reformation than that of the sixteenth century is in progress throughout the nations of earth to-day.
The Spanish government has been unsettled of late. In local uprisings, hundreds of citizens have lost their lives. During the latter part of July and the first of August, the streets of Barcelona were converted into a veritable battle-field. The immediate cause of the Barcelona revolution was the war with Morocco. The citizens protested against sending so many soldiers to take part in what appeared to be a needless and unjust war.
We are thankful to announce that witnesses are arising in different parts of Spain to testify to the saving power of God’s truth when received in its fulness into the life.
