The Bible Free in Spain.
By J. P. Thompson
The story of the Bible in Spain within recent times has almost the interest of romance. Indeed Borrow threw around it so much of the charm of romance as, in the opinion of many, to discredit his narrative, though it had a substantial basis of truth. The later experiences of Matamoras and his friends, the devices for smuggling the Bible across the frontier, the covert printing of the New Testament in a cellar at Malaga by night, the condemnation of Bible readers to prison and the galleys, imparted an almost tragic tone to the story that Borrow had so enlivened with his picturesque sketches. The latest chapter of this wonderful story is now to be told. It has been taken for granted that the proclamation of religious liberty by the Cortes, directly after the revolution of 1868, fully opened Spain to the Bible; but though removal of restrictions from the press left it free to the friends of a pure Christianity to print the Bible within the boundaries of Spain—which in their poverty, they could not undertake—there remained upon the statute books very stringent restrictions upon the importation of books printed in Spanish, amounting almost to prohibition; and these were applied to the exclusion of the Bible, by government officials who were influenced by the priests. All imported books must be approved by a council of the hierarchy. Mr. Henry C. Hall, of this city, when in Spain two years ago, succeeded in obtaining from the government at Madrid the free admission of large invoices of Bibles and other religious books sent out by the Bible and Tract Societies, and also permits for future importations. But as soon as he left the country, the subordinates in the Customs, prompted by the priesthood, interposed so many quibbles and difficulties that these permits were practically of no value. Mr. Hall then addressed himself to our government at Washington, and Mr. Secretary Fish kindly interposed his good offices through Mr. Sickles at Madrid. The result has been the abolition of these odious restrictions upon the ground of free trade in literature; and every port and depot of Spain is now fully open to the admission of the Bible and other religious books in the Spanish tongue. The abolition of the decree was placed by the Regency upon grounds of political economy; but in addressing our government, the Minister Echegaray pronounced the principle of the old law absurd—“a powerful arm for reactionary governments, which, through the instinct of self-defense, through fear of ideas, through love of darkness, and in order to crush every germ of intellectual progress in Spain, were gradually isolating her from Europe. . . . Now that liberty is the rule, and the principle of free trade has been proclaimed, it would be absurd to maintain such a literary prohibition. On the contrary, if a new life is about to commence for science and learning, it is important to open our frontiers in order that all the intellectual movements of Europe may flow in upon our country.”—J. P. Thompson, D. D.