The Rev. Dr. Milnor (American Bible Society)
Mexico 8th February 1828.
My Dear Sir
On the first of May last I wrote you a few lines from Vera Cruz. I had then just arrived from England, which I had left some nine weeks before. I stated to you in that letter my object in visiting this country, that I came as the Agent of the British & Foreign Bible Society, and that my chief occupation here for some time would be the circulation of the Holy Scriptures. I wrote you also a short note from Kingston Jamaica on the l7th of April, and left there, to be sent to you by the first opportunity, a copy of the volume of letters I published regarding the moral & religious state of South America. I am afraid neither of my letters, nor the volume mentioned has come to your hands, for otherwise I should likely have had from you a note in reply especially as the communications between New York and Vera Cruz are very frequent.
On the l7th of May I arrived in this city, accompanied as I had been from England, by Mrs. Thomson, both of us having one individual object in view in leaving our native country, to cross the ocean, and to sojourn in a strange land. Our object, I trust, is the advancement of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the consequent welfare of the people among whom we here dwell. The way by which the Lord led me in former years through the different countries of South America, encouraged me to make an attempt in the same cause upon this untrodden soil. I have not been disappointed in my expectation and my hopes during the short period of my residence here. I have seen the Word of God circulate, and have enjoyed the pleasure of being instrumental in its circulation. You will be pleased to hear that the Word of God has had and still has free course in this country, there having arisen no serious hindrance to the public sale of this sacred volume. I have said there is no serious hinderance, for some little hinderances you may easily suppose were as a matter of course to be expected, and they have been accordingly met with.
Several articles have appeared in the newspapers respecting the sale and the use of the Scriptures. In these articles the writers impugn in terms more of less measured the free use of the Scriptures by all classes without note or comment, and they also protest against what they call a mutilated Bible in the want of the Apocrypha. The authors of these opposition articles are all priests so far as I have been able to ascertain. As an agreeable counterpart to this we have had papers published in the same journals recommending the free & general reading of the Scriptures in their unadorned uncommented simplicity and force. These papers in our defence have with one exception been written by priests, and thus you see our ranks are filled with men of equal port with those arranged on the side of our adversaries. The noble object which the Bible Society has proposed to itself of translating the Sacred Scriptures into all languages & of circulating them in all countries, has met with the approbation of many in this place, and in not a few instances has called forth the warm and sincere applause of those who have entered into it.
On one occasion I mentioned the object of the Society to a priest, and the extent to which that object had already been carried into effect, and solely through the means of voluntary subscription. When I had so done he asked me what each individual subscribed. I told him that the Society was supported by subscriptions of all degrees, some gave much and others gave little, but that to constitute a member of the Society a guinea a year was the sum fixed on. I thought this question was prompted by mere curiosity, and to learn more of the nature of a Society whose plan and operations had sensibly affected him with just admiration. I was however wrong in supposing his question one of mere curiosity, for as soon as I had told him what sum constituted an annual member he immediately said that he would be a member of the Society. He accordingly paid me the necessary sum, and his name now stands enrolled in the list of the members of the British & Foreign Bible Society. The priest I now speak of is at the head of one of the colleges of this country. About the same time I formed the acquaintance of other two priests, and had stated to them also the plan & operations of the Society. I was much gratified to find that these two individuals became warmly interested in this object, and both of them have become annual subscribers to the amount which constitutes membership. Thus you see we have already obtained in Mexico three priests who are now members of the B.& F. Bible Society. I hope we shall not stop with this number, but to have three individuals in this country, priests of the Roman Catholic Religion, as members of this institution, is a very encouraging beginning.
Just as I had finished the preceding paragraph a letter was brought to me, which upon opening I found to be from yourself. I am glad your letter has reached me before sending off this, as it will enable me to give an earlier reply to some of your inquiries. I shall duly attend to your letter before I close, but in the mean time I shall go on with the detail of our affairs here as I had intended before this agreeable interruption.
Upon my arrival here in May last, I found some cases of Bibles & Testaments that had been sent from London several months before, & consigned to a merchant in this city. A former supply sent here from the same place and to the same house had met with a ready sale, as one of the booksellers here bought the whole quantity in order to retail them for his own advantage in the usual course of business. The Bibles in the first consignment had the apocryphal books, but these were awanting in the latter supply. The person who bought the first consignment, and who had disposed of the whole had been to see the new supply, but refused to take them on account of the want of the Apocrypha. Other booksellers had also refused them for the same reasons. From this cause the Bibles were lying in the merchant's store and were considered as an unsaleable article. Upon my arriving here they naturally came into my hands. Notwithstanding the discouraging circumstances I have now mentioned, I thought of making a trial of selling these Bibles, together with the New Testaments by retail. I accordingly arranged with a person here whom I know and who deals extensively in books to retail them for me at a fixed price, allowing him a small percentage for so doing. Having done this, I gave notice in some of the newspapers that such books were for sale at such a place and at such prices. The result of this attempt was very encouraging. The whole quantity was sold before the elapse of many weeks. In a short time after these had been disposed of, there arrived at Vera Cruz, & some weeks after at this city, a large supply which had been shipped for me at the time I left London. This enabled me to keep up the sale here by retail and it has accordingly gone on since their arrival, and still goes on. The sale effected in this way in this city amounts to somewhere about 650 Bibles and about 900 New Testaments.
The supply of the Scriptures now mentioned was so ample as to enable me, besides keeping up the sale in this city, to undertake a journey into the interior carrying with me 28 cases filled with these precious volumes. I set out on this tour on the 23rd of October, and my course was through the parts lying to the North & West of this city. I went first to Queretaro, a city containing about 25,000 inhabitants, and five days journey from this. In that city I opened my sale by posting up a printed advertisement in all the public places. Soon after these were put up, several people came to buy, and went away well pleased with having obtained the Word of God at so low a price. The sale in this place continued for eight days. Some days there were more buyers, & some days there were fewer, but during the whole of this time there was a considerable interest kept up upon the subject, and it was not a little gratifying to observe from time to time the heart-felt satisfaction of some of the purchasers in having obtained the precious volume in their native tongue. Several priests, and friars of various orders came to buy, and all of them seemed well pleased with the bargain they made. I carried with me a letter of introduction to a Dominican Friar of that place from a friend of this a friar of the same order in this city. From the Friar to whom I was thus introduced I received every mark of attention and kindness. His companions in the same convent were also very friendly, and I had the pleasure of twice dining in community at the convent. These Friars came to the sale room, and bought copies of the Scriptures for themselves, and also strongly recommended to others to do as they had done. People of all ranks in the place became purchasers, not a few of the rich seized this opportunity of procuring the Scriptures, but the greater number of copies were purchased by the poor. The whole scene during these eight days was interesting, and I was not a little encouraged to prosecute my journey by this favourable beginning. I sold Bibles and Testaments in this place to the amount of 741 dollars.
On leaving Queretaro I went to Zelaya and began my sale there in the usual manner. I say in the usual manner as my constant plan is to give notice of the sale by means of a public advertisement. In these advertisements the prices are fixed and a limited time of so many days is assigned for the continuance of the sale. I have found this plan of advertising and of limiting the time of the sale very serviceable. General notice is most quickly given by this means, and an interest excited, and as the period of sale is short, all who wish for the Scriptures are left to seize the opportunity offered without delay. Zelaya is but a small place and the sale was of course less than in Queretaro, but the interest excited and kept up during the sale was no wise inferior, and the proportion of the poor who bought copies of the Scriptures was I think greater than in the place first mentioned.
From Zelaya I went to Guanajuato, the capital of the State of the same name. You will recollect that this is the situation of the greatest silver mine of this country. The city is greatly reduced from its former state owing to the interruptions to the mining operation during the revolutionary war; and although the mines are again at work by the English Companies, yet nothing has hitherto been done to restore things to their former flourishing condition. The sale of the Scriptures in this place was very gratifying. In six days I sold Bibles and Testaments to the amount of 1,111 dollars. There was of course a considerable interest excited, when so many copies were sold. In regard to the prices at which I sell the Scriptures, it is regulated by their cost price in London, and the expense incurred to the spot on which they are sold. This is the practice I observe in the fixing of the price, and the number of copies given away or reduced in price is comparatively small. There are many advantages I think in selling the Scriptures over the giving them gratis. They are more valued when they have cost something, and there is less suspicion excited as to the nature of their distribution coming as they do from a protestant country.
There is a small town about one hundred miles from Guanajuato called San Juan de los Lagos. In this place an annual fair has been held for a very considerable time back, and great numbers flock to the place at that season from very distant parts of the interior, I was anxious to be present at this assemblage, that I might publish the Gospel to the congregated multitude by the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, and I thought that on that spot a wider distribution of them might be effected than from any other in the same portion of time. On this account I left Guanajuato sooner than otherwise I would have done, and pushed on to the fair. When I arrived a considerable number of people had assembled, and numbers flocked in for some days after. The first of December is the time fixed for the commencement of the fair, and its continuance is for twelve days, during which time goods of all descriptions are allowed to be sold without paying any duties. In this great mart I posted up my advertisements, and went on selling without any interruption during the principal days of the fair. My expectation as to the extent to which I should dispose of the Scriptures in this place were disappointed. Probably they had been raised too high, but there was also another reason for my disappointment, as the fair was much inferior to what it had been on former years. Still there was a considerable number of Bibles and Testaments sold, and I have the satisfaction of thinking that they were carried home by the individuals who bought them to very considerable distances in various directions. The copies of the Scriptures thus carried to distant parts will no doubt create a desire in others in those places to possess the same treasure, and I trust I shall be able to make arrangements for supplying them in due time. I should not omit to mention to you that the place where this fair is held is wholly given to idolatry, and the idol worshipped is an image of the Virgin Mary. Not a few of the multitude assembled there came for the very purpose of paying their devotions & fulfilling their vows before this shrine. An immense sum is collected annually from the votaries in this temple, for a spacious elegant building has been erected to hold this miracle working image. The priests receive the money so collected, and in return for it they preach up the mighty power of this wooden stock which their church contains. To lessen and to bring to an end this superstition is desirable, and I thought I took the directest way of doing this by circulating among the devotees the Holy Scriptures which teach that there is but one God the Father of all, and one creator our Lord Jesus Christ. That this distribution of the Scriptures will sap the foundation of this false devotion I have no doubt, but time must be allowed till God send the early and the latter rain.
From San Juan de los Lagos I went to a place called Aguas Calientes, and here for the first time on my tour, and the first time during my residence in Spanish America I met with an open opposition, and a formal attempt to prohibit the sale of the Scriptures. The Rector of that place came to examine the Bibles & Testaments on sale, and having found the Bibles without the apocrypha and the notes wanting to the whole, he adjudged that an interdict should be put upon the sale. He accordingly applied to the Alcalde, or first magistrate of the place that he would in virtue of his office put an immediate stop to the sale. I represented to the Alcalde that I thought he would be going beyond his commission if he should accede to the Rector's petition, and that he would have to be responsible for the results. He was in consequence somewhat afraid to act, and at length had recourse to his legal advisor to whom the laws require him to have recourse in all cases of difficulty. When recourse is thus made to the law officer the Alcalde is bound to act according to his decision. The lawyer pronounced judgment in my favour, and thus was foiled this first legal proceeding in this country against the circulation of the Scriptures. So perish all our enemies, and may the truth prevail, and fill this land, and the whole earth.
Zacatecas was the next spot to which I went to expose for sale the precious goods I carried with me. This is also a great mining place. But I should rather say was than is, for like Guanajuato it has suffered much in its prosperity and from the same causes. The sale in this city was pretty fair considering its size and present decayed condition. As this is a prominent spot in regard to the country farther to the interior, I made arrangements for keeping up there a continued sale of the Scriptures. I hope to have favourable accounts respecting this permanent sale before long, and to have an early demand from that place for a fresh supply.
After leaving Zacatecas I went to San Luis Potosi, where I arrived after five days travel through a desert country. Here I had a sale for five days, and made various arrangements for its being carried on afterwards as in Zacatecas. San Luis Potosi is a place of more note than any other in that quarter as a commercial city. It is the emporium connected with the port of Tampico, where there are great quantities of goods landed, and as Tampico like Vera Cruz is very unhealthy, the goods are sent onwards to San Luis, and the merchants from the interior come there to supply themselves. On this account I wished to have not only such a sale there as might supply the city itself and neighbourhood, but also to establish such a relationship as might enable me to supply these interior parts with the Scriptures, and thus to have a constant circulation of them in all those parts. I left therefore in San Luis Potosi four cases of Bibles and Testaments, which were all I had remaining of the twenty eight cases I carried with me from Mexico in October. All these 28 cases were disposed of in the places I have mentioned, with the exception of two cases which I sent from San Juan de los Lagos to Guadalajara. Having thus disposed of all my goods, I turned my face homeward, and arrived in this city on the l7th of January. I now wait here in daily expectation of 1000 Bibles and 1000 New Testaments which I wrote for some months ago, and when they arrive I intend to undertake another journey into the interior probably to the Eastward of this city. I trust the Lord will prosper me in this second journey as he graciously did on the tour above mentioned, and will enable me to sow seed which may spring up unto eternal life.
I cannot contemplate this first journey into the interior of this country without a lively sense of the gracious goodness of God towards me in my preservation and guidance, and in having made me his messenger to carry his word into these quarters, thus putting it into the hands of hundreds who had never seen it before. Let us pray, my Dear Christian Brother that what has been sown on this occasion in weakness may be raised in power, and that great glory may hereby redound unto God in the salvation of many in this place. I have not the notes at hand to enable me to say exactly how many copies of the Scriptures have been put into circulation on this tour, but the sum received for all the copies sold amounts to 3610 dollars 6 rials. As near as I can calculate at present, there have been circulated since my arrival in Mexico in May last about 1600 Bibles and 1700 New Testaments, besides some hundreds of copies of a small volume containing the gospel by Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, and of another small volume containing the Psalms, Proverbs, Eccles. and Isaiah. O may the Lord water this seed, and may the harvest be plenteous.
I should now notice the contents of your letter but I have been so much interrupted in writing this as to be overtaken by the post. What I have said however regarding the circulation of the Bible without the Apocrypha here is a reply to your inquiry upon that subject. You see also the opposition raised to the circulation of the Scripture from the want of these books. By next packet I shall write you again & shall touch upon this subject more particularly. In the meantime in great haste I remain,
Most Truly Yours,
James Thomson.