In
Less Than Fifteen Days After My Return From Naval Carnero, Nearly
Six Hundred Copies Of The Life And Words
Of Him of Nazareth had
been sold in the streets and alleys of Madrid; a fact which I hope
I
May be permitted to mention with gladness and with decent triumph
in the Lord.
One of the richest streets is the Calle Montera, where reside the
principal merchants and shopkeepers of Madrid. It is, in fact, the
street of commerce, in which respect, and in being a favourite
promenade, it corresponds with the far-famed "Nefsky" of Saint
Petersburg. Every house in this street was supplied with its
Testament, and the same might be said with respect to the Puerto
del Sol. Nay, in some instances, every individual in the house,
man and child, man-servant and maid-servant, was furnished with a
copy. My Greek, Antonio, made wonderful exertions in this quarter;
and it is but justice to say that, but for his instrumentality, on
many occasions, I might have been by no means able to give so
favourable an account of the spread of "the Bible in Spain." There
was a time when I was in the habit of saying "dark Madrid," an
expression which, I thank God, I could now drop. It were scarcely
just to call a city, "dark," in which thirteen hundred Testaments
at least were in circulation, and in daily use.
It was now that I turned to account a supply of Bibles which I had
received from Barcelona, in sheets, at the commencement of the
preceding year. The demand for the entire Scriptures was great;
indeed far greater than I could answer, as the books were disposed
of faster than they could be bound by the man whom I employed for
that purpose. Eight-and-twenty copies were bespoken and paid for
before delivery. Many of these Bibles found their way into the
best houses in Madrid. The Marquis of - had a large family, but
every individual of it, old and young, was in possession of a
Bible, and likewise a Testament, which, strange to say, were
recommended by the chaplain of the house. One of my most zealous
agents in the propagation of the Bible was an ecclesiastic. He
never walked out without carrying one beneath his gown, which he
offered to the first person he met whom he thought likely to
purchase. Another excellent assistant was an elderly gentleman of
Navarre, enormously rich, who was continually purchasing copies on
his own account, which he, as I was told, sent into his native
province, for distribution amongst his friends and the poor.
On a certain night I had retired to rest rather more early than
usual, being slightly indisposed. I soon fell asleep, and had
continued so for some hours, when I was suddenly aroused by the
opening of the door of the small apartment in which I lay. I
started up, and beheld Maria Diaz, with a lamp in her hand, enter
the room.
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