Rev A Brandram No.14
San Fernando de Apure, 6th October 1832
My Dear Friend,
I left Calaboso on the 24th ultimo, two days after writing you my last letter. I will not trouble you with a description of the roads I had to journey upon, if roads they could be called. I will only say they were exceedingly bad, and such as I am sure you have never seen, and which I never wish you to see, at least to travel over. One pass on our way however I must notice. We came to one of those rivers, which though dry in summer, flow deep and full in the wet season. It was too deep for us to ford, and boat or canoe there was none. The people however who live here, being often in this predicament, are prepared for it, or at least very soon prepare themselves for it. A boat was to be constructed, and in truth in one half hour this boat or vessel was constructed entire and launched before my eyes. It was an ox hide with a rope of hide run through the holes in the margin and drawn till the said hide assumed the shape and form of something between a lidless box and a bag. Into this most simple of all vessels went your agent, and into it when the treasures of Earl Street, and in a short time all were landed safe on the further side. This precious vessel was towed along and kept in balance by five men who swam by the aid of one of their arms and performed the work of the vessel with the other.
After this adventure and that, and after riding sometimes on dry land and sometimes on water, and sometimes in a mixture of both which was worst of all, and after dismounting from our horses deep in water, into a canoe, we came at length to the town of Camaguán. Here ended my land travelling on this continent in the course of the present tour. For, from that spot, the Lord of the Manor, the Lord of the Creation, even our Lord Jesus Christ, has constructed great and splendid highways in the form of the rivers for the use of mankind, and for his servants to travel by whilst publishing the everlasting gospel.
The river Portuguesa runs by the town of Camaguán, and is there a beautiful stream like the River Ohio in the United States. At four o'clock in the afternoon, after being kindly entertained by the Alcalde who had got a canoe in readiness for me, I embarked on the Portuguesa. After sailing six hours and a half down the river, we entered the waters of the river Apure, into which the Portuguesa empties itself, and about half past eleven at night we reached this town. People were all in bed of course at this late hour, but the owner of the canoe gave me lodgings in his house till the morning. Or, to speak more correctly I swung my hammock on the outside of his house and under the veranda and there waited in rest and sleep till the return of the day.
I brought a letter of introduction to the Priest of this town, who is also Vicar of the district. I have found him very friendly. He speaks a little English, and reads it with facility from having been some time in the Scotch College in Spain, of which country he is a native. He is a discerning and liberal man, and I have much enjoyed some long conversations I have had with him. He was kind enough on my first visit to him to send here and there among his friends to procure a lodging for me, for his own house was full, and but for which he would have received me into it. Whilst he was thus endeavouring to procure me a lodging for the few days I should be here, an English gentleman named Mr. Bagley who is a merchant in this place, having heard of my arrival, came to the priest's house where I was and kindly offered me a room in his house and a plate at his table. I need hardly tell you that I accepted of this kind offer, for an English house is always the pleasant home to an Englishman here however much he may be accustomed to the modes of life among this people. From Mr. Bagley I receive every attention, and in addition to his kindness to your agent personally, he has been so good as to take charge of the sale of the Scriptures in his own store which he keeps in this town.
Our sale has been pretty good considering all circumstances. In the first two days I sold off all the Bibles I had remaining, and I could have sold several more if I had had them. I had however a fuller supply of New Testaments, of the Psalms, and of St. Luke than of Bibles, and these smaller volumes still continue on sale.
I of course spoke to my friend the Priest to promote the sale of our books by means of the situation and influence which he holds. This however, much though he was individually inclined to it, he could not do, for the Archbishop of Caracas in whose diocese this town is, had interposed by a mandate, not only hindering him from acting favourably for us, but commending him to hinder our work as far as he could. Personally, as I have already said, he is friendly to the circulation and reading of the Scriptures, and though by authority he was prevented from aiding us, he would not he said do anything against us.
I intimated to you in one of my letters from Caracas that I was given to understand that the Archbishop of that place and diocese was anything but friendly to the Bible Society and its operations. I have now ascertained this to be the case by a printed document which the Priest here has put into my hands, dated 14th of June 1829. This document and prohibition I believe to be the true cause, or at least the principal cause, of the scanty sales effected in this country at the present time. I must give you an extract from the document mentioned.
"I have already stated to you," says the Archbishop to his clergy, "that it is a rash pretention that everyone can decide on the sense of the Sacred Scriptures. This very prejudicial maxim has been propagated in effect through the translations of the Bible into the vulgar town without notes, copies of which have been introduced among us and circulated gratuitously. Respecting this very grave point we intend to issue some special orders. But in the meantime we cannot do less than interrupt these our Instructions to say to you, – that no one is permitted to read these translations, and to those who read them is applicable the greater excommunion as stated in Book 19, Article 1st of the Synod of this diocese. These versions of the Scriptures which are circulated under the name of Father Scio are in many places corrupted, and defective, and contrary to the genuine editions of this wise translator."
I need not give you more of this prohibitory document, as you will fully see the nature of it by what I have given, and how opposed it is to you, and to the Lord Jesus Christ. To my friend the Priest I asserted strongly the falsity of the Archbishop's statement, when he says the editions of the Scriptures you circulate are in many places corrupted, and contrary to the genuine editions of Father Scio. I wondered, I said, how a man professing the religion of Jesus Christ, and who acknowledges the precept, "thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour," I wondered I said how such a one could have made such a declaration. He ought to have known, I said, the truth or non-truth of this assertion by examination in propria persona. If, I said, he pronounced without examining, he must to say the least against him be greatly in fault; and if he did examine, as he was bound to do, he must have known that his statement was a falsehood. And if so, I added, what must we think of such a man calling himself a minister of the gospel of Christ, and ruling over others bearing the same name. The Priest could not well ward off what I said, though he tried to soften it a little, for he is himself a friend of truth and of fair dealing.
But I have not yet done with this Archbishop. What should happen think you, just in the interval between two of our conversations? Why in came the Post, and with him a letter from the Archbishop to the Priest, and expressly and entirely about the Bibles, and denouncing them most loudly, the repeating his former falsehood, and adding others to them as manifestly foundationless as those already noticed.
I had expected, if not feared, in my journeyings through this country that I should be honoured with some little notice from the Archbishop; and on this account I felt it to be a duty to move as softly as I could through his diocese. I rather wondered that I had not heard of him or from him sooner, and it is curious enough that the notice I have at length drawn from him has reached me just on the verge of this diocese, for this is the last town in it in the course of my tour.
These fresh and former falsities and denunciations of the Archbishop contained in the letter in question called forth from me as you may well suppose a repetition of my form our denunciations against the Archbishop for bearing false witness against us. He is going to publish his precious statements he says, and I feel strongly inclined as openly to tell him, not in words but in substance, that he is a – –, and that his statement must have been dictated to him by the father of lies, whose servant, in this matter at least, he seems to be. But let me read you this letter, for the good Priest has given me a copy of it. Here it is: –
"One of the most terrible means which malice and error have made use of in order to destroy and confound (were it possible to do so) the Catholic Faith, or what is the same, the Unity of Revealed Doctrine, is the translation and propagation of the Sacred Scriptures in the vulgar tongues without comment, explanation, or notes conformable to the sense from the Fathers of the Church. The object in view in this has always been, that everybody might understand the Scriptures as he pleased, so that in the end there might be so many horrible, contrary, and different senses given to them, as might produce deism, atheism, or religious indifference and pyrrhonism.[1]"
"In my pastoral letter of 14th of June 1829, I touched upon this important matter, but the disorder and complication of things which followed prevented the publication of the more extensive instruction which I intended to give upon the subject as then announced to be on the eve of publication, and which I intended to serve as a preservative and an undeceiving to my beloved flock. This shall now be published forthwith; and in the meantime please to instruct those under your charge as much as you possibly can, so that they may be prevented from taking in the mortal poison which they will receive instead of the true doctrine and they propose to themselves to obtain by reading these Bibles which have been introduced and are now publicly sold for almost nothing, and which want some words in several places, and are otherwise vitiated, and without the notes of Father Scio. This same charge be pleased to communicate to the Curates and other Priests in your vicarial district, in order that in the pulpit, in the confessionary, and also in private conversations all may be made to know the existing prohibition of the reading of these Bibles, and the deceitful snare that is laid by them in respect to the faith of incautious persons."
"It is truly incredible the zeal which the Protestants are using, by establishing societies called Bible Societies, and disseminating in all parts of the world translations of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongues. The Bible Society of England alone has published them already in 65 languages and has circulated more than 10 million copies. It is also incredible, and can only be believed and understood by what we are seeing, the extent of the evil that these versions of the Bible have caused and are causing where proper remedies are not applied. The great increase in the number of criminals in England in the years following the establishment of the Bible Societies, as seen in the Reports given it in the House of Commons have no other origin than this fatal liberty of everyone understanding the word of God according to his own fancy and caprice, and applying this his misunderstood sense of Scripture for the purposes of murder and robbery, and for perpetrating all kinds of wickedness."
"In Europe every means have been taken to check this evil of the circulation of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongues. The Sovereign Pontiffs Pius 7th, Leon 12th, and Pius 3rd have stirred up the zeal of all Catholic Prelates, to watch and to prevent the sowing of these tares. The same zeal has been manifested by the Bishops, not only in countries entirely Catholic, but also in those where toleration is permitted. All Pastors have agreed from the Chief downwards, as expressed by the celebrated Menace, that this ridiculous project of circulating the Scriptures in this manner is the last expiring excess of the dying sect of Protestantism, which being no longer able to perpetuate its dogmas wishes at least to perpetuate its spirit, and whilst actually succumbing as in truth it is, calls out for vengeance by propagating anew these its errors."
"I trust that in this most weighty affair, you and the Priests in your district will use your utmost endeavours, and that you will spare no means and opportunity which your zeal may suggest to you, for supporting the Catholic Faith and Customs, and Public Order."
Having read you this letter, I shall leave it with you to settle matters as to the truth of those Reports presented to the House of Commons in which, according to the Archbishop, nearly all the crimes in England are laid and justly at your door, because you have put the Scriptures in the hands of the people, without the notes of the Holy Fathers, for these notes it is alleged would have prevented them from committing those crimes which as it would seem the words and instructions of the Lord Jesus Christ have led them to commit.
I remain, sincerely Yours,
James Thomson.
[1] E.g. David Hume 's work Pyrrhonismus historicus vs Fides historica. (BM)