Buenos Aires, 1st September 1820

Buenos Ayres, 1st Sept. 1820. [1]

 Reviewing the Lord's dealings with me during the last 12 months, I find much for which to bless his ever gracious name. On this very day last year, the magistrates of this place appointed me to the situation I hold in their Schools. In many points of view this was an im­portant matter. In the first place, it gave me a standing in the country. It also supplied my wants, and kept me from being burdensome to others. At the same time it has given me the means of intercourse with some of the principal people of this place, which, in a more private situation I could not have enjoyed. I have profited much by this in­tercourse, in ascertaining the public opinion regarding toleration, of which I soon think to take the advantage. In the second place, there arises from this connection the introduction of the Lancasterian system of education into this country. This I trust will be a lasting benefit; and independently of my other objects here in the kingdom of Christ, I should not have hesitated to come for this object alone. In the third place, the introduction of the Scriptures into these Schools, instead of the Ave Maria, &c. will directly tend to the promoting the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many of her good effects may arise from the transaction alluded to. It will be the means of introducing much know­ledge into the country, and it will pro­mote the study of the English language, from whose stores science, and morality, and pure and undefiled religion will flow into this country.

 During the past year I have received a liberal supply of the Holy Scriptures from the British and Foreign Bible So­ciety. Some of these are now in circu­lation, and I am happy to say there are several instances of their having been gratefully received, and what is of more importance, of their having been atten­tively read. May the Lord give testi­mony to the word of his grace!  The supply of New Testaments of which I have just spoken, arrived here safely in the brig Ebenezer, in January last. I was glad at their arrival, and made all haste to get them landed. Just three days after their landing, the Ebenezer was accidentally set on fire, and every thing that remained in her was destroyed. The chief loss from this accident fell on the captain, as the ship was all his own. This man I think is a fearer of God. He bought the ship new, and had her called the Ebenezer from feelings similar to those of the prophet Samuel, when he set up the stone of that name. He bore his loss with great fortitude and composure.

 Thus during the past year, the Scrip­tures have been introduced and put in circulation, Schools have been begun, and the children are employed in reading the word of God. But I have another thing to mention to you, which fills me with much comfort and thanksgiving. It is the hope I have of soon seeing in Buenos Ayres, a church of the living God. I mentioned to you in the letter I wrote after my arrival from Monte Video, that in that place I found a dis­ciple of Jesus Christ. He is now come to reside in this place. This is one of our intended church. During the time I lived with the Spanish family, there came here from England a young man, who had been some time in St. Helena as a surgeon. He came to reside in the same house in which I was, and we had thus an opportunity of speaking with each other frequently. During our in­tercourse, I stated to him the only hope of sinful man, commending the truth to his conscience in the sight of God. As we were often together, particularly on the Lord's day, these things were repeated and urged upon his attention. He heard them attentively, for his mind seemed prepared to hear about the con­cerns of eternity, from his narrowly escaping shipwreck in his voyage to this place. I trust that in this instance the seed of the word is not sown in vain. I trust the Lord has opened his heart and I esteem him as a brother in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is another, of our Church. About half a year after my coming to this place, a person came from London to work for a coach-maker here as a blacksmith. This man has attended our little meetings regularly. He was connected with the Wesleyan Methodists. He has always appeared to me to be in good earnest about religion, although I could not be satisfied till of late, of his clearly seeing and under­standing the necessity of  the atonement of Christ, and of his resting all his hopes on this sure and only foundation. This then is the third member of our Church. We shall thus make in all four, and I trust we shall draw down the blessing of him who hath promised, where two or three are gathered together in his name, he will be in the midst of them. Last Lord's day we were  all together for the first time in my room, preparatory to our intended union, when I took occasion to state fully the gospel of Christ, as a confession of my faith and hope in the sight of God. I also stated the necessity there was for our understanding each other fully upon this fundamental point, as the ground of that mutual and fervent love which the disciples of Jesus Christ are to have to one another, especially
when, united together as a church of the Living God to stir up, to watch over and to build up each other on their most holy faith. It is our intention to take a room, where we can meet together on the Lord's day.

 I have just one thing more to mention at present, respecting the Lord's kingdom in this place, which is, that I intend to appropriate a part of the Lord's day to the keeping of a Sabbath-school, for the English Children here. For the use of these have the goodness to send me twenty or thirty of the hymn books used in the Sabbath Evening Schools in Edin­burgh. Please also to send me an assort­ment of the prize books given to children of these Schools. The Sabbath School Society will perhaps aid us in this. Let there be as great a variety as possible, that I may select some to be translated into Spanish.

 From what I have stated, my dear brother, regarding our Church, the preaching the Gospel to our countrymen, and regarding our Schools, it is not necessary, I believe, to add, ‘pray for us.’ But I add it to urge you the more. I trust my beloved brethren will take a lively interest in our infant cause in this place, and will not cease most earnestly to pray to the Lord on our behalf. Re­collect where we are. We are not in Britain.  Recollect how much wisdom, prudence and zeal we stand in need of, to enable us to glorify God in this land of darkness.  May the Lord stir you up to pray for us—may the Lord hear your supplications—and may every blessing be on you all through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[1] "Circulation of the Scriptures at Buenos Ayres", New Evangelical Magazine, Vol. VII (1820): 122-123. Editor's note: The writer of the following letter is well known to many of the readers of our Magazine, who will therefore peruse it with peculiar interest. We have occasionally laid before them other letters received from him. See Vol VI, p.388.

Buenos Aires, 26th February 1821

Rev. Joseph Hughes

Buenos Ayres, 26 February 1821[1]

Reverend Sir.

I have the pleasure of informing you that the two cases containing 100 Portuguese Bibles and 200 Portuguese New Testaments arrived here safely about a fortnight ago. I trust the Lord will open doors for the profitable distribution of these in the Brazils, and that I will have the satisfaction of communicating to you before long, intelligence to this effect. The date is arrived when we may hope almost everything in favour of the cause of the Bible Society. South America is a vast vast field, and the Brazils is the darkest and most inaccessible part of it. That part of our continent where the Spanish language is spoken is, blessed be God, opening every day for the entrance of the Bible.

It gives me most sincere pleasure to learn by your 16th report, that you have printed an edition of Scio's translation of the New Testament. This will be much more acceptable here than the other translation; and I would recommend to you to print only from this translation in future. With equal joy I have learned by your report, that an edition of the whole Bible of Scio's translation is in the press. This is what I have long most earnestly wished for, and repeatedly written to your committee about; and as hope deferred maketh the heart sad, I was grieved in not hearing anything about it. Your report however has turned my sorrow into joy. I beseech you on behalf of South America to send me 200 copies of the Bible the moment they leave the press. In the meantime by the first opportunity send me three or 500 of Scio's New Testament. I am sorry you did not send me some along with the Portuguese Bibles. If the Spanish Bible will be is because the Portuguese one, I think it would be well to bind it in two volumes. At all events, be so good as to bind a few so, and letter them on the back. This will greatly contribute to their sale. I should also be glad if you would cause half of the New Testament's to be lettered for the same reason. May I request you to send me six or ten copies regularly of your monthly extracts? Could you supply me with the same number from 1 January 1821, it would be an additional favour. These will reach me along with my monthly parcels of periodical publications by your sending them to Major George Cowie & Co. 31 Poultry. Please send me a few copies of your 15th report, which I have not yet seen.

I have still some copies of the other translation to hand, but I know that a much readier reception will be given to Scio's version, and the others I shall endeavor to circulate along with them. I am the more anxious to have the number I have mentioned (that of the 500) of this translation in my possession with all convenient speed, as I intend, if the Lord will, to go to Chile soon after the expected time of their arrival, from thence to Peru and probably to Mexico. Shall I have the pleasure of taking with me also some of the Spanish Bibles? The Lord grant that I may.

Please send me a few copies of Scio's Bible (in two volumes) and some of his NTs handsomely bound for presents and also to sell to those who would cheerfully pay a superior price for them. Half a dozen Portuguese Bibles done in the same way would also be acceptable. But I am afraid I am asking too many things. God however is witness that one object only I have in view in all I am asking; and that object is the grand object of the B & F Bible Society. Take the map of the world into your hand, look at South America, and all my requests, as formerly, are granted. The Lord prosper you exceedingly everywhere in all your work!

            I remain, Dear Sir, Yours Sincerely in the Lord,

                                                James Thomson.

P.S. Please send 200 of the NTs to Buenos Ayres & 300 to Valparaiso. Mark the cases JBT & and send the invoice to me here, & the ones to Valparaiso, care of Mr. Andrew Blest. JT.

[1] BSA-D1-2-A

Santiago, 8th October 1821 (BFBS)

Mr. Owen, BFBS. [1]

Santiago de Chile, 8th October, 1821

I wrote you a few lines on the 26th February, and then mentioned that it was my intention to visit Chile. Through the gracious providence of the God of the Bible Society, I have now effected my intention. I left Buenos Aires on the 30th May, and sailing round Cape Horn, arrived safely at Valparaiso, after a voyage of forty-four days. After a short stay in that place, to recruit my health, which always suffers at sea, I came to this city, the capital of Chile. Here, the moment of my arrival, I met with a very encouraging recep­tion. You know, of course, that my most prominent object in South America is the promoting of education on the Lancasterian plan. On this footing it was that I experienced so hearty a re­ception in this place. Great and respected as your Society is, and ought to be, in the eyes of England and of Europe, it would yet be an imprudence to proclaim one's self your agent here, with the sole or chief object of circulating the Bible. This is not speaking very favourably of the inhabitants of South America, you will say. I confess it, but at the same time, I have told you the truth.

Whilst, however, I hold myself forward in the eyes of South America, as a promoter of education and an instructor of youth, I consider myself in all respects as the servant of the British and Foreign Bible Society. I beg you to consider me in this light, and to call upon me with the utmost free­dom in whatever way I can, directly or indirectly, promote your blessed work, in making the in­habitants of this vast continent acquainted with the words of eternal life. I have said, my prominent object here is the establishment of schools. I freely and openly profess this, and in consequence am everywhere hailed as a friend. The little influence I have thus acquired, and the confidence reposed in me, enable me more effectually to pro­mote the circulation of the Scriptures, than if I acted ostensibly and exclusively as your agent.

One proof of this I shall give you. I brought with me among my books from Buenos Aires, about sixty Spanish New Testaments. In getting my luggage through the Custom House, I was told, that the books must be inspected by the Bishop. I wished this might be dispensed with, but it was insisted on. I then told the officers, that I was engaged to come here by the Government to establish the Lancasterian schools. That alters the case, said they, and immediately the papers for despatching my books, &c. were signed, and not, a single book was so much as looked at either by the Bishop, or by any of the Custom House officers. I was told, before coming here, that there was much less liberality in Chile, as to the circulation of the Scriptures, than in Buenos Aires. I was, therefore, anxious to avoid the inspection of the Bishop above noticed. I understand he has it in his power to prohibit what books he chooses, and that his prohibition holds, unless the Government give, in the individual case, an order to the contrary. I am in expectation of receiving from you very soon 300 of Scio's translation of the New Testament. These I shall let pass all the forms required, to make proof whether or not the Scriptures are allowed to be introduced into Chile. This, you will perceive, is an object worth ascertaining, and the knowledge of it will be of considerable use in directing us in future. Should the Bishop demur as to their circulation, and wish to keep them, I can, I think obtain an order of the Government to prevent it; so that we may consider there is no great danger of losing them, in making the trial referred to.

Notwithstanding what I have said above, no interruption to the circulation of the Spanish New Testament has yet been experienced. Soon after my arrival, I gave to an Englishman, who has a shop here, some copies to sell. This man is a Roman Catholic, and I am happy to say, he recommends the Scriptures to the natives of this country, who are of his own religion. He has already sold about twenty.  He in very anxious for the arrival of the Spanish Bibles, which I told him I expected, as he thinks he could sell many of them.

In my letters to you, from time to time, when in Buenos Aires, I related to you the state of the circulation of the Scriptures in that place. I am happy to say, that at my leaving it, the pros­pects regarding this important matter were more favourable than at any former period. I do not mean to say by this, that there was any particular stir about the word of God, or great demand for it; but I mean to convey to you this encou­raging truth, that the Scriptures are occasionally bought, and more so than formerly, and that they are increasingly read from year to year. I con­sider the word of God to have fairly got an en­trance into Buenos Aires; and that its prohibition, or any material hindrance to its circulation, is not only unlikely, but, one might say, impossible. I give you this as my opinion, after a residence in that place of more than two years and a half, and an intercourse with various classes of society during that time.

I shall now mention some things not formerly noticed, regarding the circulation of the Scriptures in Buenos Aires, and in the surrounding country. —A military officer, commanding on a station a short distance from the city, has been greatly de­lighted with the New Testament, and in consequence, very anxious to make others acquainted with it. He recommended the reading of it to several poor people who were unable to purchase it, and requested to have copies to give them, which he obtained. In this way he has distrib­uted a number of copies. Besides those given to the poor, some have been sold by him to those able to pay for them. He used to take me very cordially by the hand when we met, and to speak with pleasure on the beneficence of the Bible Society, and of the great advantages that would arise to his countrymen by a general reading of the Holy Scriptures. I told him I hoped soon to have the whole Bible in Spanish, and in consequence he is all expectation for it. On my leaving Buenos Aires, I gave twenty-four New Testa­ments to this gentleman, in the confidence of their being distributed in the most judicious manner.

There is a military station and a small town on the east coast of Patagonia, called Río Negro, in about 42° south latitude. To this place some copies of the New Testament have been sent. One individual, a native of that place, was so pleased with the copy he got, that he requested the person who brought it, to bring several copies on his return for his family and friends. I am personally acquainted with the officer at pres­ent commanding at that place, and am pretty certain he will not throw any obstacle in the way of the circulation of the Scriptures. This gentleman attended our school in Buenos Aires, and took with him lessons, &c. to establish schools on his arrival in that place, for which he sailed in May last. The lessons I have referred to I got printed in Buenos Aires for our schools. They are selections from the Scriptures. These lessons, now used in most of the schools, will greatly con­tribute, I hope, to create a desire to possess the sacred volume, a book which has hitherto been little known in this country.

A Patagonian chief, called Cualli Piachepolon, in the very centre of Patagonia, is in possession of one of your Testaments. This man has been in the habit of visiting Buenos Aires for some years, in order to exchange the few commodities which his country at present produces, for those of Europe. He has hence acquired some knowledge of the Spanish language. Upon hearing some passages of the New Testament read to him, he requested to have the book, that he might, on his return, explain it to his people.

Some copies have been sent to Tucuman, to Salta, &c.; so that your bounty is known, more or less, throughout the provinces of the Rio de la Plata; and I have no doubt but, some hundred years hence, the then populous banks of that king of rivers, and the circumjacent country, will grate­fully remember the present Committee and Mem­bers of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

I  close  my account of Buenos Aires, for the present, by noticing, that some individuals, upon obtaining the New Testament, and hearing of your great and extended efforts in distributing the Holy Scriptures, wondered how they had been taught that the English were not Christians. When speaking on religion, it is common to use the word Christian and Protestant in contradistinction to each other, meaning, by the former, themselves or Roman Catholics in general, and by the latter, the English or Protestants in general.

A short time before I left the Rio de la Plata, I sent ten of the Portuguese Bibles, and twenty New Testaments, to Bahia, in charge of a per­son who, I think, would take care to see them safely lodged in that place. I sent them to the care of the English Chaplain there.

During the few days I stopped at Valparaiso, I met with a gentleman to whom I had formerly intrusted twelve of the Spanish New Testaments. Upon my enquiring about them, he told me they had been stolen out of his room. Though this was to be regretted, yet one good effect would arise from it, in as much as the person who stole them would no doubt take effectual care to put them in circulation.

In my letter of 26th February, I requested the Society to send me 200 of Scio's translation to Buenos Aires, and 300 to Valparaiso. I hope these will respectively arrive in due time. I then noticed to you the advantage that would arise from lettering them on the back, and varying them in the binding. I particularly request your attention to this, as I am sure it will contribute greatly to their sale. Let the binding be in many cases elegant. They would thus be more expensive to the Society at first, but they would be considerably less in the end. It is my intention to sell them in future, except when a favourable opportunity occurs of giving the word of God to a person in real poverty. This I know to be the uniform re­commendation of the Society. I would beg leave to suggest to you, that no Bibles or New Testa­ments be sent out in future to Buenos Aires by the captains of ships. The captains, however well intentioned they may be, cannot stay to distribute them. The Testaments, in consequence, have not unfrequently come into hands who wish to get rid of them in any way. By this means they become, as it were, of too little consideration, and their sale is thus also prevented, which no doubt is the most effectual way of distributing them. In Buenos Aires several persons objected to buying them, be­cause they had formerly been got for nothing. I shall, as I have said above, most readily act as your agent in distributing the Scriptures in Buenos Aires, and in Chile. The most judicious and effectual way of doing this is through the book­sellers in these places. Before leaving Buenos Aires I arranged for the continued circulation of the New Testament, and here I shall make arrangements to the same effect before I go. It is my intention to visit Peru before long; and I shall there also, and indeed wherever I may be, zeal­ously endeavour to promote the good work in which you are engaged.

In a few years South America will have large claims on your Society, but she will pay you from her mines for all your kindness. Should the Lord spare me ten or twenty years, I have no doubt I shall see wonderful and blessed changes on this continent. It is my intention, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to spend my life (long or short as it may be) in South America; probably not in any fixed place, but residing from time to time wherever I may most effectually promote the work of the Lord, in establishing schools, in circu­lating the Scriptures, and in the use of such other means as circumstances may direct.

[1] Letter to BFBS, but not now found in Bible Society Collection in Cambridge University Library. James Thomson. Letters on the Moral and Religious State of South America (London: James  Nisbet, 1827), pp. 14-21.