A BONFIRE OF BIBLES

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 21, 1889

A BONFIRE OF BIBLES.

AGAIN and again it is denied by Roman Catholic apologists that Bibles have been or are burned as an evidence of Roman Catholic hostility to the circulation of the Scriptures. Imagine what was the extent of the fury which raged against the Bible in the vernacular, when Romanism ruled the rulers of Europe, by this outburst which is thus recorded by the Madrid correspondent of the London Daily News and quoted in the Evening Post. He says that "the Liberal Government tries in vain to enforce the spirit of toleration among the authorities and subjects of his Most Catholic Majesty. Very recently in Biscay an agent of the Bible Society was attacked and insulted by twenty young Catholic students led by a Jesuit Father, who excited the lads to take possession of, tear up, and make a pious bonfire of, the Bibles, Testaments, and tracts. The Spanish judges, after carefully investigating the case, declined to send the offenders before the tribunal for the assault and the destruction of the property of the Foreign Bible Society. . . .

"Whilst this treatment is meted out to foreigners and Protestants, the Spanish courts of justice send journalists to penal servitude for criticising the State religion." In the face of such incidents as this, we are taught, not merely by Romanists, but by weak Protestants, that we should consider the Roman Church as a great ally in the work of enlightening humanity in the principles of religious truth and civil liberty. We estimate Romanism by the exhibition it makes of itself when it has the opportunity to display its spirit. It burns Bibles when it can, because it believes that Bibles in the hands of the people are incendiary documents that will consume the cherished corruptions of their ecclesiastical establishment.—New York Observer.