Rev A Brandram. No.15
Zacatecas, 28th December 1827
My Dear Sir,
Ten days ago I wrote to you from Aguas Calientes, a place well named, you will see, in more respects than one. It was then my unpleasant duty to detail to you for the first time a serious and open attempt not to hinder only but to stop the circulation of the Scriptures in this country. I noticed to you the efforts made for this and by Annas and Caiaphas the two chief priests of that place, and mentioned also the vacillating conduct in this affair of Pontius Pilate the Alcalde. These three names force themselves upon me from similarity of circumstances, I mean in the stations held by these opposers and in the opposition made, not in those personally opposed. And yet, why should I say so? Was it not the Saviour who was opposed in both cases? In the one case, he was opposed face-to-face, and in the other, his holy and gracious commandment to make known the gospel, pure as it came from his blessed self, was the butt of opposition. Blessed be the Lord, who ruleth in the heaven above, and in the earth beneath, that this unholy attempt to stop the circulation of the word of life was frustrated. Further, it is the Lord, and the Lord only, who bringeth good out of evil, and out of this evil of which I now speak. I trust results will follow, which will make the word of God have a freer course in this land than it otherwise would have had; and if it has a freer course, it will be more glorified, and more will attain to glory through means of it.
I mentioned to you that the Alcalde, influenced by the ecclesiastical threats of the Rector, refused to grant me a copy of the proceedings in this matter, and that he gave me a certificate of his refusal. In this certificate he stated plainly that one of the reasons for his refusing the document in question was, that he should thereby facilitate the sale of the Bibles and other places. He certainly judged right in supposing that this failure in an attempt to stop the circulation of the Scriptures, would be the means of preventing other similar attempts, and thus of promoting their circulation to a greater extent. I was fully aware of this advantage I had got over our opponents, and to forward what the Alcalde dreaded was my object and asking for the document referred to, and which I have the fullest right to by one of the clearest articles in the instructions laid down for the courts of justice within the State. I considered it as my duty as your agent to follow-up this matter and to insist for the copy referred to.
Accordingly since my arrival here I have made a representation to the Supreme Court of the State, detailing what occurred and begging that the court would order the said Alcalde to give me the document which in opposition to the prescribed forms he had refused. These are the Christmas holidays here, and nothing can be done until they are over, but I have been privately informed that there is no doubt of my getting what I have requested, and besides it is very likely that the Alcalde will be called up to the city to give an account of his irregular proceedings. I leave the management of this matter in the hands of a friend, who will forward me a copy of the proceedings in Aguas Calientes, and also a copy of what the Supreme Court will do in the matter, and this double document will I expect be of more than double values in our cause.
The hurry I was in in finishing my last letter for the post to Mexico, (for your letters go that way), prevented me from mentioning one or two things which I had intended to notice. The first is the circumstance of a poor man who manifested a great desire to procure a Bible. It was Sunday when he called, but his earnestness for the Scriptures led me into conversation with him, after having informed him that there was no sale till Monday. He wished at least that I would show him a Bible to look at, and I accordingly attended to his request. You will recollect that I had Bibles of two sizes, one of them your octavo edition, and the other was Bagster's Bible printed with a small type. The last of the large Bibles had been sold on this Saturday night preceding, and of course I had only the small one to show to the person above mentioned. When I showed it to him he asked me for the large Bible. They are all gone, I said. At hearing this, he was greatly disappointed, and expressed himself accordingly. It was only last night, I said, but the last of them were sold, why did you not come yesterday and you would have had one. It was only yesterday morning, said he, that I came in from the country, and as soon as I knew there were Bibles for sale I was very anxious to have one. But not having money to buy it, I went about all the day to collect the sum required, and it is only this morning that I completed it, and now that I have got the money all the large Bibles are gone! I could not but condole with the individual in his disappointment, especially since he had a family to whom the large print would have been much more agreeable and useful. His son, a boy of about nine years old, stood by him, and participated in his disappointment. Not being able to procure the large Bible, he had so much wished for, there was no remedy but to take a small one. I put him off till Monday. As he was going out, he asked me how early he might come for the Bible next morning. As early as you like, I replied, and he went away. On Monday morning before breakfast he made his appearance and his son with him. I had, the previous day, witnessed his grief and joined in it, but on his return I enjoyed the pleasure of seeing him contented and happy. In the interval between the two times of his calling, one of the large Bibles was returned, and thus he carried off the prize he so much wished for. The number of small pieces of money in which he paid for the Bible, fully satisfied me of the truth of what he had said of his collecting the price of it here and there among his friends, who it should seemed were also poor.
On the same evening on which I arrived at Aguas Calientes, and before the advertisements were up, a priest came to buy a Bible, having somehow shared that I had such an article for sale. He bought a Bible and Testament. He was not satisfied with this, but wished also to see the other books I had brought. I told him I had no others. What! Said he, no others in all these cases? No, said I, there is nothing there but Bibles and Testament. He would not however believe me, and thought my reluctance to show the other books arose from the trouble I should have of opening the cases. He went away, and said he would come again, when I had got time to open the other cases. He came next morning, but there were no other cases opened. He begged me, to open one and to show him the other books I had brought. I again repeated that I had no other books but Bibles and Testaments and said that he had already seen all the different kinds of these I had. He still remained incredulous as before, and was not satisfied at what he called the concealing of my books from him. In short this individual came several times in the same pursuit, and was often disappointed. It was in vain that I repeated the only thing I had to say, he would still have it, that so many cases could not be filled with Bibles and Testaments only.
I have one incident more to notice in regard to Aguas Calientes, and then I shall come to the occurrences of city in which I now am. Our sale closed on the 17th and on the 18th the boxes that had been opened were assorted and nailed up. After nailing them up, a man came for the New Testament. I told him, he had come too late, and that they were all packed up. He was sorry to hear me say so. What does the New Testament contain, said he. I told him it contained an account of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, what he said, what he did, and how he died for us on the Cross, and rose again from the dead, and ascended up to heaven. It contains also I said, what the twelve apostles of the Saviour did after his ascension, how that they went and preached everywhere salvation through the Lord Jesus, and it contains also the letters which the Apostles wrote to those who believed in Christ. When I had done, "Do open a box," said the man, "and let me have a New Testament." I then recollected that a few New Testaments which the box would not hold, were packed up elsewhere with some other things. As these were not difficult to be got at, I sought out one for him, and he went off with it well pleased.
I just add regarding the Alcalde that on the 19th when about to set off, I called upon him to see if he remained in the same opinion, stating to him the injustice he did me in withholding the document I wanted of him. He said he continued in the same opinion, and that he was still more confirmed in it after having talked with the priest whom I mentioned as the originator of the opposition. I am afraid the sermon of this individual will not be so favourable to the reading of the Scriptures as he said to me it would be before he knew the result of the process. I am afraid also that he has other objections to the study of the sacred volume besides those he noticed in the conversation we had together. I have therefore with less scruple given him the name you find in the first page of this letter. I shall however the most ready to retract when I find in him a sincere desire to encourage the reading of the Scriptures, but in the meantime he must be considered, from what he has done, as the chief of our opponents.
I arrived in the city on the 21st current, but the mules bearing our precious treasure did not arrive till the morning of the 24th. On that date our sale began, and today it closes. Our flag of truce, has been displayed these five days, and not a few have been attracted by it, and have stopped in the street to read what it contains. Our sale here has been about as good as could have been expected. The city is not large, and the mines which form its principal support, are not in a prosperous state. I observed during the two or three first days of our sale, that not a single priest came to purchase, and I was more than suspicious that the two individuals of that body in Aguas Calientes, had taken the trouble to write to their friends here to the injury of our sale. During one of these days, I saw a priest pass our door, out of which our banner was displayed, and though it hung right before him, a little above his head, he could not see it, as he was so much taken up with touching his hat and nodding to those who on the right and left doffed their hats to him. I thought this characteristic. I thought this body of the community, through the adulation they require and receive, have therefore lost sight of their duty which lies before them, and of things above. At length however two or three priests came to our sale, and during these two days past several have come and have bought more or less, and one or two of them have stayed a good while, and have entered freely into conversation.
I have mentioned above that our large Bibles were finished in Aguas Calientes. Two of these however I had reserved to carry to a friend in Guanajuato who had asked for them after our sale there was closed. These two were lying on one of our shelves. A priest well up in years came yesterday, and after having seen the Bibles that were for sale, regretted the smallness of the type. Have you no others said he with larger print. No, I said I, there are no others at present, formerly there were, but they are all gone. What are these lying there, said he, pointing to the two Bibles just mentioned. These are two of the large size which we had, I said, but they are already sold. He wish to look at one of them, and it was given to him. He was much pleased with the type, and wished me to sell it to him. I said, I could not sell it to him, as it was already sold. He urged me again to let them have it, and I repeated my reasons for reluctantly withholding it from him. He still however continued begging me to let him have it, and urged his age as a reason for me to give it to him, as he could not he said make use of the small print. Ask what price you like for it, he said, and you shall have it. No, I said, it is not because of price that I cannot let you have it, but because it is already sold, and therefore no longer mine. I stated to him that a new supply of large Bibles would come here sometime after, and that then he might supply himself. Yes, said he, and who knows when that will be, and who knows what will happen before they come. I was truly sorry that it was not in my power to gratify him in so laudable desire as he thus manifested to have the Bible for his own use and at an advanced age; whilst on the other hand, I was much pleased to see in an individual of this body so great an attachment to the Holy Scriptures. This is a pleasing contrast to the conduct of the two priests, whose operations to stop the circulation of the Scriptures, I so fully noticed in my last letter.
I was not a little pleased today with the man in the lower ranks of life, who sometime after he had bought the Bible returned to tell me what had occurred in a shop where he was standing for a little. A man came in he said, and on seeing his Bible, said to him. So you have been buying a Bible. Yes, says the man, I have. Why, returned the other, if I were the Alcalde I would not let Bibles be sold in this way to everybody. These books, he continued, are for priests and friars, and not for you and everybody who takes it into his head to read them. The more you read them, said he, the more unhappy you will be. The man defended his conduct in having bought a Bible, and then came off. He stopped with a good while after he had told me this occurrence and we talked together about the content of the Scriptures, and the duty imposed upon all to read them, with the advantages present and future which would follow the knowledge and the practice of what was therein contained.
By glancing at the map of Mexico you will perceive how this city stands in respect to the country at large. This is the limit of the dense population of this country, if dense any part of it may be called. Here then I stop the present journey, and turn back towards Mexico. The only other place I have to visit on this tour is San Luis Potosi, and I set out for that city tomorrow. Here in Zacatecas, I have disposed of two cases, but I leave other two in the hands of the merchant here who deals a good deal in the bookselling line, and who is about to send a person into the interior to dispose of those books he has on hand. With these will go the Bibles and Testaments, and I suppose they will thus dispose themselves over a considerable tract of country, and to be the forerunners of a more abundant supplies soon to follow them. I wish to establish a permanent sale in the city, and the person I have noticed above will be a very suitable individual for this purpose. I have made arrangements with him accordingly, and shall supply him from time to time as the stock on hand will permit. It is my intention to establish in this manner a permanent sale in the capital of each state, and also in other towns whose population and situation render it desirable. A transitory sale for a few days is a good way for a commencement, but the constant sale is what will prove the best means of circulating the Scriptures in the widest manner and of bringing a copy into the hands of each individual at the lowest price. I have sent forward to San Luis Potosi the remaining six cases of my whole stock, which on my leaving Mexico, you will recollect, consisted of 28 cases. Of these six, I expect to expand, in one way and another, in San Luis, four cases; and the other two I intend to take with me to Guanajuato by way of commencing a permanent sale there, a spot very suitable for it, from the population of that city and the surrounding country.
There have been sold here 142 Bibles and 157 New Testaments, and twelve copies of the Four Books; in all 311 copies. The sum received for these is 522 dollars 2 rials.
This letter, with regard to my communications, will close the year 1827. May God Almighty pour down abundant showers upon the seed which has been sown by the Society towards the four winds of heaven during this year, and may the harvest come on apace.
I remain, Most Truly Yours,
James Thomson.
P. S. If you think the names too hard which I have given to our three friends near the beginning of this letter, read A.B.C. instead.