CHAPTER XXIV.
"A LIGHT THAT SHINETH IN A DARK PLACE."
"One germ of life is mightier
Than a whole universe of death."
Ancient thrones and citadels fast gave way before the new principle that power should be invested in the people. From the outset the ruling classes traced this idea to the Bible, which Luther had just then put into the hands of the people in their own language, and both the book and its reader were hated accordingly.
There seems to be a natural antagonism between the Church of Rome and a Bible which common people can read. Throughout Christendom this precious book was for centuries concealed from the masses in a dead language, until it became an almost forgotten part of that "whole armor of God" which he has commanded his Church to take in her spiritual warfare. The gospel which had been preached to the poor had thus a political outcome over which kings, priests, and even Reformers themselves, trembled. It is true that Protestantism became at times a political engine, but God worked through it in fulfillment of his own word: "Every valley shall be exalted and every hill brought low." It was in the thirteenth century, when all Europe was arousing from the torpor of the Dark Ages, that translations of the Bible into several vernacular languages first appeared. In this great movement Spain was a leader. King Alphonso the Wise caused a Spanish translation of the Bible to be made in 1260 "for the improvement of the Castilian language;" this manuscript may be seen in the library of the Escorial. In 1478, fourteen years before Columbus discovered America, we hear of a Spanish Bible published in the city of Valencia. The feeling of the priesthood over this enterprise is shown by the fact that the work was suppressed and the impression burned. Scarcely a copy escaped.
But little seems to have been known, however, of these translations by the common people, who most needed them; for when Francis de Enzinas, a pious Spaniard, desired for his countrymen the treasure of God's word in their mother-tongue, he went to Wittenberg to be, as he supposed, a pioneer translator of the New Testament into Spanish. He did the work under the eye of Melanchthon. The first edition, dedicated to Charles V., was published in the year 1544. De Soto, the confessor of the emperor, warned him of the dangerous tendencies of this book, and poor Enzinas, though he had been promised the royal patronage, was arrested and thrown into prison. The printing of one verse of his translation in capital letters nearly cost the bold man his life. It was Romans iii. 28: "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."
"For what reason," said the inquisitors, when they tormented him with questions, "have you had this Lutheran maxim set in capital letters? It is a very grave offence, and deserves burning."
"This doctrine was not devised in Luther's brain," replied Enzinas; "its source is the mysterious throne of the eternal Father, and it was revealed to the Church by the ministry of St. Paul for the salvation of every one that believeth."
While in confinement and in the face of death at the stake Enzinas translated the Psalms and preached the gospel to all who would hear him.
It is pleasant to record the escape of this bold confessor after a long imprisonment. He had become very sad one night, depressed in mind and body, and, going to the grating of his cell for air, he discovered the door to be unfastened. He passed through this, and found the second unlocked also, and then the third, which opened into the street, as though an angel had unbarred them as did Peter's heavenly visitor.
These facts show that Spain was in possession of the word of God when she extended her sceptre over the pagans of America. The ambition of her military adventurers there was not only to enrich her coffers with golden spoil, but to conquer a new world for the pope.
Never did the Church of Rome have a grander opportunity than in Mexico to give to perishing souls the gospel as it is set forth in God's word. Almost every tribe had bowed to the yoke of Spain and accepted the religion imposed by their conquerors; but during the three centuries of Spanish rule the Bible seems never to have been brought to this dark shore, or, if it was, the book was hidden away in some mouldy library, to be read by priests alone. If the voice of the Reformation ever sounded in this region and shadow of death, it was soon silenced by the Inquisition, which had a dungeon-grave for every gospel inquirer, whether in Europe, in Asia or in America. God has not been without his witnesses in every age and in every country, but the names of few shine out to human eyes in the annals of the Church in Mexico. The historians of no Christian land were so silent with regard to the Reformation as were those of Spain. Yet thousands of whom the world knows little or nothing died there for the faith of Jesus. Among those who left only a name was Juan de Leon, who lived in Mexico and fled from that country to Spain, only to be arrested there by the Inquisition and burned at the stake in 1559, a heroic martyr for Christ.
Never were printing-presses watched more vigilantly than were those of Spain at that time. No book could be sold or read without an order from the Inquisition; a bookseller dared not open a bale of goods without its permission. The same rules were faithfully carried out in Mexico. Even one obnoxious passage in a whole edition of books was erased, and some volumes thus mutilated can to-day be seen in libraries there. Cardinal Ximenes, one of the chief promoters of the Holy Office, gave it as his opinion that "the Holy Scriptures should be confined to the three ancient languages which God with mystic import permitted to be inscribed over the head of his crucified Son." We do not find, therefore, any mention of Bible translation or Bible printing in Spanish America until 1831, when liberal principles began to assert themselves even in the Church of Rome by a new version of the entire Bible prepared by eight Mexican priests and published in the capital by Ribera in 1833. Before that time, however, a Spanish New Testament had been secretly circulating in Mexico. Spanish prisoners of war had taken with them to Spain and to her former colonies in this country thousands of copies of the New Testament translated by Enzinas and published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Amid the wild havoc of war the blessed story "of Jesus and his love" was breathed in many an ear as this little book sped on his errands of peace. The fruit of such seed-sowing appeared along many a path yet untrodden by other messengers of the cross. The Rev. Dr. Bingham, then secretary of the American Bible Society, went into Mexico in 1826, and everywhere found a great thirst for the word of God. He shipped to the capital five hundred Bibles and one hundred and thirty New Testaments. It was his opinion that up to that time not more than two thousand copies of the Scriptures had ever reached Mexico.
The Mexican clergy seem to have been divided among themselves as to the expediency of circulating the Bible. At one time a poster appeared on the inside door of the cathedral in Vera Cruz announcing the publication of a Spanish Bible with notes, under the patronage of the archbishop; the same notice appeared in Mexico. But this edition was in thirty parts and cost, unbound, eight dollars a copy. Another record tells us that the only terms on which a Spanish Bible could be procured was by the payment of thirty dollars for the book itself, and thirty dollars more to the curate of the parish for the privilege of reading it. The bargain was completed when the buyer solemnly promised not to read his treasure in the presence of wife, children or servants.
Such a case is reported in the Bible Record for 1880. A gentleman was traveling in Mexico, in the wildest part of the country, where great danger was to be feared from brigands. As he walked along he saw in the distance a clump of trees, and in the little space among them, sitting in a circle on the ground, were several men. He feared that he had run into the very danger he was trying to avoid, but put on a bold face and pushed on. As he drew nearer he saw an old man reading aloud to the others from a book. The men rose as he came up to them and received him politely, and, making room in their circle, invited him to sit down on the ground with them. Seeing that they meant no harm, he accepted their invitation. Taking his seat next the old man, he asked to see what he was reading. To his surprise and joy he found that the circle had a copy of the New Testament published by the American Bible Society.
Another story is to be referred, probably, to a still earlier date. Many years ago, when Mexico was almost wholly without the Bible, a Mexican gentleman who owned a large hacienda in one of the northern provinces became acquainted in a very remarkable manner with the saving truth of the gospel. He was wealthy, and employed so many to serve him that he might be said to own a village. He was proud of his Spanish ancestry, and delighted to tell of the time when those of his family who first came from Spain to America became the fortunate possessors of an image of wood called San Roman, said to have been found floating in the water in mid-ocean. His ancestors named their estate in New Spain after this image; they built a chapel for it, and worshiped it. When the season was dry, as it often was, they brought San Roman out and carried him in solemn procession about the place, hoping in this way to bring refreshing rain. In case of sickness or any other trouble they prayed to San Roman and gave to him the glory which a true Christian gives only to God. The planter of San Roman could neither read nor write, and not a person on his great estate was any better off than he in this respect. One day, while in Matamoras on business, a Mexican gentleman showed our friend a book which he called the word of God. He had heard of God and of his Son, but never before that this great Being had written anything that men could read. "Was it a letter," he asked, "or a history?" The planter persevered in his inquiries until he had heard enough about this wonderful book to want it with all his heart, and at once he offered the owner twenty silver dollars for it. The gentleman would not sell it for any money; he too valued it as a priceless treasure.
But the planter of San Roman was not to be put off. "You can get another copy," he said, "and I cannot. I have never heard till now that God had sent any message to this world, but, since he has, I must have it. Take the twenty dollars, and I'll keep the book." So saying, he folded the precious volume under his serape and rode away.
The planter had nearly fifty miles to go before he reached the house of a friend who could read this wonderful message to him. He stopped his horse at the door and called out to his friend to go home with him; "for," said he, "I have a book—a strange book—for you to read, and I want my family to hear it too. I do not know how to wait until you shall open it to me ;" adding, with a solemn air, "It is the word of God to men."
The friend thus appealed to was not so much interested in this precious treasure as was the planter, and he was at first unwilling to go on such an errand; but, being urged, he mounted his horse, and the two men rode on to San Roman.
No sooner had the planter reached his home than he ordered the ringing of the great bell which called the hands in from every part of the estate. Hearing the sound at this unusual hour, the people came crowding to the large patio of his mansion. He ordered every one to be seated to hear important news. After a few words of explanation, the master turned to his friend and said,
"Now begin at the beginning, and read on until we shall understand."
The reader held a small Spanish Testament in his hand and opened it at the first chapter of Matthew. Verse after verse the hard, strange names rolled over his tongue, as meaningless to the listeners as were the Latin prayers they had been accustomed to hear mumbled when they went to mass. At last he came to the twenty-first verse, which declares that Jesus shall save his people from their sins. The people began to get some light and were interested. The story of the wise men from the East and the little children who were killed in Bethlehem made a great impression. And so they went on with the story of Christ's baptism, his temptation in the wilderness, the death of his friend John, the feeding of the "five thousand men, beside women and children." Missionaries of our own time tell of Mexicans who sit up all night to hear the Bible read, and these people had the same thirst for the word of God which characterizes many of their ignorant countrymen. When the reader began the story of Christ's betrayal, murmurs of sorrow ran through the listening company. Where the Saviour was crucified, they wept and bowed their heads. How sad, how dark, the outlook for those who had already learned to love the sinner's Friend! But, thanks be to God, the story did not end there; the cross and the grave were not all. Christ rose again; he walked and talked with his disciples, and then ascended on high as a conqueror, saying at the last, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
As the wonderful story was finished the master rose, and, looking around upon his family and people, said,
"There was one thing I was most glad to hear: it is that last word of Jesus, when he tells his disciples to go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. They were to teach every one everything he had taught them. Now, my friends, some of these men will come to San Roman to tell us this good news, to instruct us as the Lord instructed them they will soon be here, no doubt. Meanwhile, I must learn to read this wonderful book, and you, my sons," turning to them, "must learn too, in order to read again the story of the Saviour's life and to do what he commands us. The disciples have been a long while coming to us, but the world is large, you know; they will certainly come, for Jesus thus has commanded them."
The owner of San Roman and his sons at once began to learn to read the precious book. The good news was read from time to time to every one on the plantation, and there, as of old in Judea, the common people heard Christ gladly. Year after year they met on the Lord's day as the apostles taught, until at last a Christian settlement flourished where once San Roman was worshiped. That old image was soon forgotten. No more flowers or jewels were offered at the forsaken shrine, and no incense went up with the prayers to a senseless block of wood.
At length the planter heard that a man who talked like the book was in Matamoras. He got on his horse quickly and went in search of him. He would bring him to San Roman, where so many were waiting and longing for Christ's messenger.
The preacher was soon found, for just then all Matamoras was stirred with his words; but it was with great difficulty he could be persuaded to go so far into the country. He had come to Matamoras on only a short visit, and must go back to his own flock. But the planter would take no denial. Go he must, and go he did, to preach to the people of San Roman.
Once more the great bell was rung, and the people came crowding into the patio to hear that gospel which had now become the word of life to them all. When the sermon was over, the host had a question to ask:
"Sir, you have not told us why you were so long in coming to us. Did not Christ tell you before he went up that you were to preach the gospel to every creature? How long ago was that?"
"Eighteen hundred years," replied the missionary, awed by the look of sad surprise which his host had turned upon him.
"'Eighteen hundred years'! And what were the disciples doing, that they did not teach all nations long ago? Surely the Lord said, 'I am with you alway'?"
"Yes," replied the missionary, sadly, "there is pardon for sin, and they ought to have spread the news; but for many long years the Church has been asleep over her duty. But you have heard it, and let us pray that the Holy Spirit may work in the hearts of God's people until their love and faith and zeal shall carry the news of salvation not only throughout Mexico, but to the utmost bounds of the earth."
When war broke out between the United States and Mexico, in 1846, agents of the Bible Society followed the invading army. The pioneer missionary in Mexico, however, was Miss Melinda Rankin, a devoted schoolteacher from New England, who took her place in Brownsville, Texas, just over the border, long before Mexico was opened, and there besieged one gate to this benighted land. The kind of faith which can say to a mountain, "Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea," was hers.
Poor vanquished Mexico was yet distracted with internal troubles, bleeding with wounds our country had inflicted upon her, and too ignorant of her real degradation to know that those of her own household were her worst enemies. While affairs south of the Rio Grande were in this forlorn condition, Miss Rankin, listening to the sad stories told by returning soldiers, felt that something must be done for poor Mexico. "Who," she continually asked with voice and with pen, "will go to the rescue?" Her efforts were all in vain. Then she resolved to go herself. She could not preach, but she could teach. She was told that Texas was given up to outlaws, and that even if she could pass there in safety through dangers the Mexicans were too embittered against the United States to listen patiently to what she said.
But love for perishing souls was stronger than all these fears. In 1852, after some delay at Huntsville, Texas, Miss Rankin opened a school for Mexican children in Brownsville, Texas, just opposite Matamoras, in Mexico. In this school the Bible was daily and faithfully taught. Some of her pupils lived across the river, and frequently returned to their homes in Mexico carrying with them the New Testaments she gave them. These girls were watched by a company of French nuns who had established a school close by Miss Rankin, and also by the Romish priests everywhere. Sometimes their Testaments were snatched away and burned by lynx-eyed inquisitors, but most of them escaped, and many are to-day bringing forth a harvest of a hundredfold.
In 1855, Miss Rankin became convinced that the work of Bible-distribution required the whole time of one person, and applied to the American and Foreign Christian Union (New York) to seek for a Christian man who could speak Spanish to come to Brownsville and, as the door opened, to enter Mexico. But such a man could not be found, and rather than see the work hindered Miss Rankin secured the services of an assistant in her school and devoted herself to Bible-distribution. American friends said, "The Mexicans turn your Bibles over to the priests to burn." After investigation, it was found that this was very seldom the case. She says, "I found that the Mexicans concealed them in the most careful manner, taking them out and reading them by night. I went one day to the house where one of my pupils resided to ask concerning her absence, and also to make inquiry after a Bible I had furnished her. A report had crept into the school that she had exchanged it with the nuns for a saint, and that they had burned it. The mother of the girl met me at the door, and with streaming eyes told me that her daughter had died of yellow fever but a short time before. I asked if she had her Bible. She replied, 'No; I put her Bible in her coffin, as she loved it so much, and it was buried with her.'" Orders came now for dozens of Bibles at once, accompanied by money to pay for them.
Miss Rankin was greatly aided in her labors by a traveling German portrait-painter. While attending to his business he visited the homes of many wealthy people far in the interior, in many places so remote that they knew comparatively little of the great struggle which was then going on over Protestantism, or, if they did, had those about them who were thirsting for the word of God. It was among the poor his message was most gladly received. He often, however, encountered violent opposition, but his heart was burdened with the spiritual needs of distracted Mexico, and he was willing to suffer the loss of all things—even of life itself—for Christ's sake. He finally lost his life in Mexico; whether he was killed as a Bible-distributor or for the purposes of robbery was never ascertained.
In 1859 a light finally dawned upon the long night of darkness in Mexico. On Christmas day the liberal army under Juarez entered the capital in triumph; only the night before, Miramon and his defeated forces had fled away. It was a glorious victory for those who advocated religious freedom. The great change was heralded over the land by ringing of bells and firing of cannon. Matamoras, on the northern border, was illuminated, and joined in the general rejoicing. Miss Rankin says, "As the noise from Matamoras broke on my ear I thought I never had heard more delightful sounds, and my heart bounded in joyful anticipation that God's word could now have free course and be glorified." Men immediately came over from Matamoras for Bibles and tracts, saying, "We can now distribute Protestant books without any hindrance, and we will pay you for all you can let us have."
In 1860 the American Bible Society employed the Rev. Mr. Thompson to labor as their agent in Mexico, the authorities encouraging his work. As far as Monterey he found that the Bible had preceded him everywhere. At Cadereita, thirty miles from Monterey, a man met him with the abrupt question, "Are you not a teacher of the Bible? I have dreamed of just such a looking man as you; I knew that somewhere there must be the living teacher of this book." It was found that this man was well read in the Scriptures. He had thrown aside popery, embraced the gospel, and gave good evidence of being truly "born again." In 1861 this Mexican and his eldest son came to Brownsville, and after careful examination were received into a Protestant church, the first Mexicans who dared to come out publicly and profess the Protestant faith.
In 1861, Miss Rankin and her helpers were shut out by the civil war from communication with friends in the United States, and Mr. Thompson returned to the United States.
Rev. James Hickey, being obliged, as a Union man, to flee from Texas, went to work in Mexico; he was the first man to collect a congregation of Protestant Mexicans. In two places he found churches ready for organization, the result of Bible-reading alone.
After laboring for years amid many perils and some disasters, Miss Rankin's long-cherished desire was granted, and in 1866 she crossed over into Mexico and began work in the beautiful city of Monterey. The hostility of the priests was so great that during the first three months of her stay in that city she moved three times
out of houses she had rented and then was obliged to leave.
But a house was secured at last, and public worship began. Converts multiplied, and some of them were by this time capable of instructing their countrymen in the truths of the Bible. She selected four of these young men and asked them if they would be willing to preach Christ among their people. They hesitated — not for want of love to their Master, but because they were laboring-men and had families to support. Finding that they needed but thirty dollars a month, Miss Rankin resolved to set them at work, trusting for their support to the liberality of Christian friends
in the United States. Sad to relate, this resource failed her just now when the field was so white to the harvest, and, taking her life in her hand, as she had done so many times before, this noble woman went to the United States to lay the cause before the women of its Protestant churches. These Christian sisters took the measure of tier plan, and sent her back to her work with a heart newly inspired with love and faith, believing that the day would soon come when she should see "the gospel preached in Mexico by the Mexicans themselves." She had secured funds which enabled her to employ not only four, but eight, men.
As soon as possible Miss Rankin gathered her laborers together and prepared to send them out two and two, as in apostolic days. The morning came for their departure, and she noticed that two of the young men looked troubled.
"Why are you anxious?" she kindly asked.
The men said they expected opposition, and were particularly afraid of a priest who would meet them with arguments against the Bible. They were so ignorant; how could they answer him?
Miss Rankin opened the Bible at the tenth chapter of Luke and drew attention to these words: "And he sent them two and two before his face to every city and place whither he himself would come," emphasizing the last clause, assuring the men that, as they were going out in Christ's name to preach his gospel, they might expect his presence and blessing, as he had promised. This scriptural view of the case restored confidence, and the young brethren cheerfully took up their bundles of books and departed, Miss Rankin looking after them with the joyful exclamation in behalf of Mexico, "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."
At the close of a month, the appointed time, every man came back with the same story that the seventy told to Jesus eighteen hundred years ago. The two timid ones were especially happy; even the priest they had dreaded had nothing to say against the Bible when they met him. The Bible was opened again and the story repeated, with emphasis now on these words: "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name."
This work continued from month to month until the whole country within one hundred miles of Monterey had been traversed by the eight Mexican colporteurs. And now should they not press on to regions beyond if the Master made a way? It was soon opened. Two of these young men were sent to Zacatecas, a distance of between three and four hundred, miles. They were the two timid brethren who ventured forth on this long and dangerous road, accompanied by two colporteurs employed by the Bible Society. At Villa de Cos, near Zacatecas, they remained several weeks, teaching and preaching with great acceptance. "Scarcely," said they, "do we find time to eat or to sleep, so anxious are the people to hear our readings from God's word."
When, in 1873, Miss Rankin was compelled by failing health to give her Bible-work into other hands, there were hundreds of converted Mexicans, in six organized churches, with a school attached to each church and a training-school for boys in the seminary-building in Monterey. Miss Cochrane writes in 1881: "All but one of Mr. Thomson's theological class of ten young men date their awakening to the time when Miss Rankin was here. Don Pablo, the tenth man, came from a little village where a single copy of the Bible began the work." This mission is now under the care of the Foreign Board of the Presbyterian Church.
In 1878 the first Bible-store was opened in the City of Mexico. The passers-by stopped at its windows to gaze with mingled curiosity and awe on a book which, it was claimed, was the word of God. One peasant from the mountains, who came back to buy a Bible, had walked seventy miles for this sole purpose and in the purchase spent all that he had. He carried home the precious book, and read it to his family and his neighbors. They had no time to listen to him during the day, but they came from far and near at night to his humble cabin and took turns in furnishing him with candles. One aged couple walked twenty miles night after night to hear these wonderful words of life.
Thus we see that God has put special honor on the Scriptures of truth in the early evangelization of Mexico. In hundreds of instances in every part of the land it has preceded the missionary, and again and again congregations have been found all ready for organization as churches where the voice of the living preacher had never been heard. The reading of the Bible alone, blessed by the Holy Spirit to the saving of souls, has proved how true are the Psalmist's words: "The entrance of thy word giveth light."