Church was being rent by hostile factions, and serious theological difficulties had revealed themselves even before Luther’s time, in Spain the necessity of protecting the Church from the invasion of the Moslems had tended to harmonize all differences. A faith which had cost so much blood was surely worth preserving intact; and men, women, and children were eager to sacrifice their lives and their property, to keep their cherished faith from a taint of heresy. Martyrdom in that age was sought by many devotees; and a bishop excited the wrath of the people, and was even accused of apostasy, because he blamed those Christians who unnecessarily insulted the prophet Mahomet.
The Church and the Cross, the joys of heaven and the torments of hell, were the most powerful forces in the life of Spain in the sixteenth century. To many, they were far more real than the exciting bull-fights or the brilliant assemblies. The warring of good and evil spirits, the thought of eternity, the “forever and forever” of the exceeding glory or the intense anguish of the world beyond the grave,
