Veracruz, 2nd May 1827

Rev. A. Brandram No.3

Vera Cruz, 2nd May 1827.

My Dear Sir,

I am now called to the pleasing duty of informing you that our Heavenly Father has once more conducted me safely over the great ocean, and has set me down again on the shores of America. On the 29th ultimo we cast anchor in this port. Our voyage from England to this place has been in all nine weeks and one day, and though longer than usual and far from pleasant during the first three weeks, yet to complain would be a manifest stepping aside from Christian duty. On the contrary I have great cause to be thankful for the many mercies enjoyed on so long a voyage. Of my progress to Jamaica you are already acquainted by my letter to you from Kingston of the 18th ultimo. On the 19th we sailed from Port Royal, and had a pleasing passage to this port. From the well-known character of this city as a most unhealthy spot, you will not expect that I should stay longer in it than what is absolutely necessary. Everybody who touches here dispatches business quickly, and leaves the place as soon as possible. I act upon this plan also, but must not leave my post through fear if a little longer stay would be likely to forward our Sacred Cause.

I thought it right to stay here till today expecting the return of Mr. Rocafuerte  from Mexico on his way to England. This gentleman is fully acquainted with the objects I have in view in this country from the many conversations we had regarding them when in London. He warmly enters into such matters and is truly desirous of forwarding them. Today he arrived here as expected and I have had a great deal of conversation with him regarding my intended plan of operations. To be acquainted with the leading people in Mexico will be of great consequence to me whilst residing there, and that acquaintance will be yet more useful to me when I travel into the interior parts of the country with letters from them of introduction to their friends in the provincial towns. Mr. Rocafuerte has furnished me with an ample supply of introductory notes to persons in the Government and to others who have influence in society in the Mexican capital. He has also furnished me with much information in a private way in regard to public feeling and the character of individuals in this quarter. These notices will I trust prove very serviceable to me in the prosecution of my objects.

The command we have received from our Lord and Master is, to be wise as serpents and to be harmless as doves. To enable us to do so, we must acquire all the information we can as to the best means of forwarding the work we are called to, and when we receive such information we are to use it to the best advantage. I trust I do in some measure acknowledge the Lord in all my ways, and I believe he will fulfill his promise in directing my steps. The benefits I have derived from Mr. Rocafuerte's counsel and assistance I look upon as the answer of God to our prayers, and I know you will join with me in thanksgiving to our Father and our Guide for thus vouchsafing to hear us and direct us. Let us join also in continued supplications for that unceasing direction and support  we still stand in need of. The Lord is the hearer of prayer; let us not doubt it.

I leave Veracruz tomorrow for Mexico and am told that our journey will require twelve days.

Today is the first Wednesday of May, and the anniversary of the B & F Bible Society. You may be sure I do not forget this coincidence, far as I am removed from you. I was present with you today in spirit, and almost heard your report read and  the speeches delivered on the occasion, and was sure I saw the elated countenance of every individual in the assembly. I could hear but few compliments to men in such a heavenly reunion, but I heard aloud  and on every side, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name be all the praise and glory."

My dear Friend, and all my dear Friends and companions in the Bible cause, I beg you to aid me with your prayers, that I may be faithful and successful in the work to which I am called. Through your prayers already offered up for me I have been conducted safely over the ocean, and through the same I enjoy in this pestilential city, a flow of health and many blessings. These things encourage me to go forward. I trust the same hand will lead me which has led me hitherto, and that in every place in passing along we shall be enabled to raise and Ebenezer stone, and to sacrifice upon it, not to ourselves but to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom in all things the glory, both now and for ever: Amen.

            I am, My Dear Sir, Most Truly Yours,

                                                            James Thomson.

San Luis Potosí, 8th January 1828

The Rev A Brandram  No.16

San Luis Potosí 8th January 1828

My Dear Sir,

In my last which was from the Zacatecas, I mentioned my intention of setting out immediately for this city. I set out accordingly on 29th December on finishing the sale in Zacatecas. As I was entirely unacquainted with the road, a guide was of course necessary. I found some difficulty in getting one in Zacatecas, and was directed to a small village five leagues onward where I was told I should most probably find a steady man to go with me. I made the best of my way therefore to this village and arrived at about noon. Here I found a person well acquainted with the road, and who was recommended to me as very steady. I engaged him to go with me to San Luis, and we set out without delay. Just as it grew dark we reached the place called the village, but which is little entitled to the name, there being only a few miserable houses in it, the inhabitants of which seem to have little to do and as little to live upon. The food supply to us in the small inn where we stopped was of the very commonest kind, and corresponded with the poverty of the place.

Next morning the guide I mentioned gave me the unpleasant intelligence that he would be unable to accompany me farther, as his horse had got injured on the preceding day, and was thereby unfitted for going through the rest of the journey. He himself was very sorry likewise at this accident, as he hoped by this journey to have gained a small supply for himself and family. After a good deal of trouble and delay I found one who would go with me, but he sought so much, taking advantage of the circumstances I was in, that I refused to engage him. I set out therefore accompanied by the servant who came with me from Mexico, but who was, like myself, a total stranger to the road. I had hoped we should get on by asking of this one and that one by the way, as we had once or twice done on former occasions. After we had been an hour or two on the road, I found by my pocket compass that we were going too much to the south for San Luis. I caused therefore the servant and the two loaded mules to stop till I should cross the plain for a little to see if I could hit again upon the road from which we must have deviated. After more than half an hour's search I could find no road, and returned, thinking perhaps that our only plan would be to return to the village we had left. To add to my uneasiness in this predicament my own horse which had been ill the preceding day, afternoon grew worse and quite unfit to stand out the day's journey.

When I returned to the servant I was agreeably surprised by his telling me, that since I had left in a man had passed by and had pointed out to him where the road lay, and had also shown him a few huts about a mile off where we might perhaps find a guide to go with us. To these huts we directed our course, and when we arrived there my horse was completely done up. These huts were by the side of the lake, through the midst of which we passed on dry ground owing to the great drought which has prevailed there for a long period. The huts were inhabited by the keeper of the lake and the few who aided him in the collecting the salt found there in the proper season. As this dry season was not harvest time there, the keeper of the lake agreed to accompany us to the next town which was 36 miles off, he also gave me a horse for myself. Whilst he was getting his horses ready, his wife prepared us a little mutton roasted on the coals and some bread made from the Indian corn, which formed a most grateful repast after the very poor fare of our last lodging.

A little after one o'clock we were ready to set out. We traveled at a good pace the rest of the day, and soon after the stars appeared we arrived at a small village. During the whole of these 36 miles we only once met some people on the road. Here our guide was to leave us, and our first care on arrival was to provide ourselves with another guide and a hired horse besides. No guide however nor hired horse was to be found in the village. We were thus again in perplexity, but our former guide relieved us by saying he would accompany us another day. Next day we set out and traveled a lonely road, without meeting a single individual to relieve its tediousness. In the afternoon we reached another small village, and endeavored there as in the last to obtain a horse to hire and guide to accompany us. But here as on the night preceding we were completely unsuccessful. The good man who had guided us for two days again relieved us by saying he would go with us next day also. He went with us accordingly, and thus brought us within a day's journey of San Luis, and to a spot where we succeeded in obtaining all we wanted for the following day. I shall not soon forget the guide who lives by the Salt Lake, and who accompanied me so obligingly for three successive days when no other aid was to be found. His so accompanying me was doubly pleasing, as I was under the necessity of being in San Luis by a certain date to deliver to the owner the two mules which went with us, and the detention of them for a day would have been a serious inconvenience and loss to him. On the 2nd current I arrived here, and found the owner of the mules at the inn, already mounted and his mules with him ready to set out for Mexico. I was just therefore in time for him and nothing more. To return to the obliging guide, should your agent in his journeyings over again pass by the Salt Lake, he intends to present this individual was a Bible, and to believes he will have your full approbation in doing so.

I have troubled you with this detail of some of my grievances, and of the happy exit which they had, because I know you wish thus to be present with me and to share in my joys and my sorrows; and every friend that I meet with by the way, finds I am sure a place in your feelings of regard, and I hope in your prayers. May the Lord reward the individual I have referred to, and may the holy Scriptures reach him in due time, and prove to him and to his family and everlasting blessing.

I must carry you back for a few moments to the road and the country over which I have just passed. It is waste and almost without inhabitant. Our road did not lie over mountains, but through extensive and beautiful plains, with insulated mountains here and there always in view. It was the very depth of winter, as you perceive, when I passed, and yet nothing could exceed the delightfulness of the weather. We had a clear unclouded sky, the heat of the sun in his greatest altitude was not in the least inconvenient but agreeably warm, while the gentle zephyrs sweetly refreshed us as we moved along. I could not help contrasting this climate with yours at the same season, and could not but see the superior advantages in this respect which we enjoy over you. But then, your spiritual climate! – And ours! There, my Friend, the hand of God has been liberal to you. Rejoice in his goodness, and pray for our wilderness, that it may yet, and ere long, blossom as the rose.

Allow me to detain you just one moment longer on this road. A new year has commenced since I last wrote you. It was whilst I was on this road the old year gave place to the new. This point of time is always to the Christian time of serious thought, of confessions, meditations, and supplications. The place where I passed the night which joins the old year and the new was peculiarly favourable to these feelings. It was a small village called "The Holy Spirit". The reposing my body and a place called by this name reminded me forcibly on such an occasion of dwelling in the Holy Spirit, and that again of walking in the Spirit through the year just commencing. I felt very comfortable under these circumstances, though in the midst of a desert country, and among strangers in a foreign land. But where God is, there is all. Pray ever for me, My Dear Friend, pray especially that I may ever dwell in the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit. I will pray for you and return, and for the same blessing. God has honoured us with great honour in employing us to circulate his holy word. But if we dwell not in the Spirit, and walk not in the Spirit, all these honours here will hereafter turn against us. Let us therefore stir one another up to holiness of heart and of life, and to zeal in our holy calling.

On the 2nd January I arrived in the city. I had sent on before me six cases of Bibles and Testaments, and these I found safely here when I came. From Mexico I brought a letter of introduction to a person here who deals a good deal in books. I had sent forward the cases to this individual along with my letter of introduction. On the evening of my arrival I called on him, and found him very friendly to my objects, and most willing to enter into any arrangements to forward the sale of the Scriptures. To this he added a kind invitation but I would live in his house during my stay in city. I am not very ready in accepting of such invitations at first offer, because there is a great deal of Spanish compliment current in the country, and which ends, as it is intended it should, in nothing. This gentleman however showed his sincerity by repeatedly urging me to come to his house. I came accordingly and have lodged with him since the day after my arrival here, receiving the kindest attention from himself and family. After having so taken up my lodging I delivered another letter of introduction to a gentleman of the law, and from him I had a similar invitation to dwell with him. I told him how I was already lodged, and that therefore I should not be able to accept his kindness. He then desired me when I should return to the city to be sure to come straight to his house, and to make it my home during my stay. These two are the only invitations of this kind I have met with on the journey, excepting of course the kindness of Mr. Hurry in Guanajuato, as formerly mentioned to you.

I had a letter of introduction to the Commissary General of the army in this quarter. In that letter the object of the Bible Society was stated, and also my connexion with you. I was much pleased to see the interest he took in the circulation of the Scriptures. It is in this class of inhabitants of this country, I mean the military, that Deism has made its deepest inroads. I was therefore truly gratified to find this gentleman not only on the side of the Bible, but also expressing and earnest desire for it circulation, and anticipating the good effects that would follow. In thinking of this I am reminded of what I omitted to mention in my letter from Querétaro. When there, one evening after the sale was over, two military officers came to get Bibles. Whilst they were in my room, and the Bibles were sent for, I said a few words to them respecting the importance of the world to come over the present scene, and respecting the Bible as the guide to eternal life. The serious matter in which they listened and assented to what was said, and the cheerfulness with which they received their Bibles, was very agreeable, and the more so from what I have mentioned above with regard to the military of this country.

The sale here was begun in the shop of the individual whom I have mentioned and in whose house I live, and it is now continued for five days. Here however, as in Zacatecas, I wish to have a permanent sale, and I have given notice accordingly. This is a place of considerable trade from its connexion with the port of Tampico. Many merchants come from Saltillo and from other parts of the interior to buy goods here. The person above mentioned has a good deal of intercourse with the interior parts in this way. He has himself visited several of them, and is in the constant practice of sending books and other goods to these quarters. I have therefore made arrangements with him for keeping up a sale here, and for supplying the interior towns with the Scriptures. In my last letter I said I intended to expend for cases in San Luis, and to carry only two remaining to Guanajuato. Upon asking our friend here what quantity he thought would be necessary for sending to the interior parts of the country. After making his calculation as to what would be required in this and that place, he said that he thought four cases would be needed for sending to these places. This left only two for San Luis, the greater part of which have been disposed of during these five days of our sale. In consequence of this, I give up my intention of carrying any of the cases to Guanajuato, and to leave the whole here for sale in this city, or for sending into the country as circumstances may direct. This arrangement brings to a close the distribution of the 28 cases of Bibles and Testaments with which I set out from Mexico about three months ago. I leave this city therefore tomorrow morning, and without going by Guanajuato, which would take me three days journey about, I go direct to Mexico when I expect to arrive in about ten days.

I have sold here 85 Bibles and 77 New Testaments, and have received 300 dollars and four rials. I expected to sell more here from the size of the place, but as the sale is to be continued a greater distribution will be made. We have got some priests here who I believe are rather inimical to the reading of the Scriptures by the people in general. Two copies of the Bible were bought by two students in the college. These were afterwards returned in consequence of the Rector of the College, who is a priest, having said to those who bought them, that these books were not allowed to be read in the college. The Rector in this district is also I understand opposed to the general reading of the Scriptures. Over these and similar difficulties, time with the advance of knowledge will triumph in due season. When we look to the past and present, a great change has already taken place, and greater changes will I trust follow, and year after year will record them.

As a counterpart to the opposition referred to, I should mention, that a Friar was first the first purchaser of a Bible in this place. He lives some 60 miles from this, and has already set out for his place of residence. I said to him when he was about to go, that I hoped the Bible he took with him, would lead many others to wish for the same treasure. He said he hoped it would have that effect, and added, that he would have a pleasure in directing people where they might purchase for themselves. Several other priests also have bought Bibles here in the course of the sale. Thus you see, in almost every case where we have discouragements, we have also some little circumstances to animate us to perseverance in circulating the Holy Scriptures in this land; and taking together all the circumstances which occurred in regard to this matter, I am always more surprised of the freedom and encouragement we enjoyed, then up the discouragements and partial opposition which we meet with. May the Lord prosper us more and more, and blessed this land through our instrumentality.

I have in this city received Mr. Jackson's letter of 19th October acknowledging receipt of my letter of 27th July. I am glad of this notice, as this is the letter in which I requested you to send me 1000 Bibles and 1000 New Testaments. These therefore I think may be expected before long, and I hope to see them in circulation before many months elapse. I intend to distribute these in the parts to the east of the city of Mexico. A fresh supply will be required for the quarters I have visited on this journey, and for this I now apply to you. It will be desirable to send this supply to Tampico and not to Vera Cruz, as this will save a good deal of expense in the carriage. You can consign these to Watson Davidson & Co. of that place, as I have already spoken with one of the partners of that house upon the subject. The quantity I wish is 1000 8vo Bibles, 1000 8vo New Testaments, 100 Four Books, and 1000 Luke & Acts, all in common bindings. To these add 60 Bibles of the same size bound in calf extra, and 40 in Morocco gilt. Of these 40 I could wish 10 done in a superior style, by putting gold ornaments on the back and sides, as the taste of this country runs in that way, and I have been sometimes ask for Bibles so done up.

Till my next, which will probably be from Mexico, I bid you Adieu, remaining is always,

                                                Very Truly Yours,

                                                            James Thomson.

Jalapa, 23rd April 1828

The Rev A Brandram  No.20

Jalapa 23rd April 1828

My Dear Sir,

I told you in my last that I hope my next letter would be written in this place, and I am glad that there occurred no hindrances of the kind alluded to in regard to my setting out on this second journey in Mexico in your service. I left the capital on the 2nd instant, and arrived in Puebla on the 4th.

I have two letters of introduction for the Bishop, one of which was from our friend Salazar. The other was from Don Miguel Santamaría the Colombian minister residing in this country. I mentioned this gentleman's name to you with pleasure, and add, that he has taken a greater interest in my concerns here, and has been more serviceable to me in them than any individual I have met with in Mexico. For my last journey he furnished me with letters of introduction, and for the present journey he has furnished me yet more amply, as he has more acquaintances in the course of the tour I am now taking than in the northwesterly directions in which I last traveled. One thing I have observed with a good deal of satisfaction so far as he is concerned, that he never minces with the objects in which I am engaged, but freely and openly introduces me as an agent of the Bible Society, engaged in the circulation of the Scriptures in this country. This gentleman is a native of Vera Cruz, has resided some time in Colombia, and is now as above-mentioned the resident minister in Mexico from Bogota.

To return to the Bishop. I went with my two letters of introduction to him, and was ready graciously received. He said he had heard of me and of my objects in this country, and on account of which and from the respect he had for the persons who had written the letters he had just read, he was glad of an opportunity of paying me what attention he could. This house, said he, is yours, and more than that, (added he laying his hand upon his breast,) this heart is at your service. I of course rendered him a thousand thanks for such kind offers. But as I had looked to this interview with so little interest in anxiety, I had another and a higher return to make. I lifted up my heart in thanksgiving and to him in whose hand are the hearts of all, and who disposeth them to whatsoever he will, and I bless his Holy Name for disposing the mind of this individual to befriend his cause in this land. The Bishop's interest is considerable. In his own diocese of course he has the entire sway, but as he is now the only Bishop in Mexico his influence is great throughout all the country. I trust the Lord will stir him up to befriend us not only in a negative way, but also in a more active manner. I had three other interviews with the Bishop whilst I remained in Puebla, my stay there having been prolonged several days beyond the period I expected. I made him a present in the name of the Society of a Spanish Bible in Morocco binding, and also one of Bagster's Hebrew and Greek Bibles interleaved. Three copies of the Brief View were also put into his hands. With this present he was well pleased, and I hope it will attach him the more to your great objects. During the second and third interviews with him I endeavoured to ascertain whether he would be disposed to give his name to encourage the circulation of your edition of the Bible, a specimen or copy of which I had given him. I did not wish to be to direct in my request, nor did I like on the other hand to let the occasion slip without knowing his mind upon the subject. I therefore went round him and round him, coming nearer each time, and upon coming close upon the subject he politely declined, stating at the Apocrypha as the obstacle.

Upon talking with him as to the extent to which the Mexican language was spoken in his diocese, he said three-fifths of the people spoke it. I mentioned my desire to procure a translation of a part of the New Testament into this tongue. I was glad to find that he entered into this, and that he was ready to lend his aid for the accomplishing of it. I trust the delays experienced in finding a translator for this language has been to throw the work into the hands of the Bishop. He spoke in a very proper manner of the precautions to be taken to procure a faithful and good translation. He has engaged to get an attempt made. His plan is to set some individual skilled in the language to translate two chapters, one in the Old and one in the New Testament, and when these are ready they are to be examined by two or three competent judges. If these pronounce the translation good, the translator will go on, but if otherwise not, and a new translator to our will be sought for. This I think is a good plan, and I hope we shall hear of favourable results before long. The Bishop promises to give his name to authorize the translation when accomplished. He desired me to write to you that he will be a co-operator with your society. It would I think greatly animate him, and would strengthen our party in this land, if Lord Teignmouth should address a few lines to him, upon the subject of this translation and upon the circulation of the Scriptures in general. Should this suggestion meet with his Lordship's approbation, it might be proper before writing to have some little conversation with Mr. Rocafuerte, the Mexican chargé d'affaires in London, a gentleman most friendly to the Bible Society. I was in a mistake when I said in a former letter that the Bishop is a native of Spain, he is a native of Puebla.

In conversing with the Professor of the Mexican language in the Ecclesiastical College of Puebla, as to the usefulness of a Mexican translation of the New Testament, and whether he thought the curates would read it to the people on Sundays and holidays, he said he thought such a translation would be very acceptable and useful to the people, and that he did not doubt but the priests would read it in the church, and he was sure that in doing so they would not only benefit the people, but themselves also. Many of the people understood Spanish he said, but when they made their confession to the priest they uniformly spoke in their own tongue.

From Puebla I went to Tlascala returning next day to the same place. My object was to ascertain the prevalence or otherwise of the Mexican language in that quarter. It prevails. I was told that of those who understand the Spanish, they spoke it with great unwillingness giving a decided preference to their own tongue. Upon my mentioning a translation of the New Testament into their native language and of establishing schools for teaching it, a decided approbation was given to such a plan, and much confidence was expressed as to the good results which might follow. In Tlascala, I saw the identical standard with which Cortés entered and conquered that place. It was stained with blood, such are the traces of conquerors, a race of men soon I hope to become extinct. There was to me a more interesting object in that city. I saw, and stood, in the first pulpit in which the gospel was preached in the New World. A Friar stood behind me, and if you can make anything emblematical of this circumstance, you may. Your letter of the 11th (and 18th) February came into my hands yesterday along with Mr. Jackson's note of the minutes of the Committee regarding my requests about editions of the Scriptures. I thank you for ordering a pica edition of the New Testament and for your other grants. I do note of course thank you for what you have not done is about the adding the two epistles of Peter to the volume containing the Gospel by Luke and the Acts. You give no reasons for your negative, because I suppose you had none to give.

I withdraw my motion for the present regarding a small pica Bible with marginal references. I shall probably say something about Torres Amat's version in my next. I gave you an order in January last for Bibles to be sent to Tampico. Please send the same quantity of each to Vera Cruz as soon after the receipt of this as you can. My object on this journey is not to hold sales in particular towns, but to establish permanent sales as extensively as I can in the districts I visit.

Mrs. Thomson, about whom you so kindly inquire, is well, with the exception of  her anxiety for the safety of her husband on this journey exposed to perils of various kinds. Pray for him, and be assured that he is sincerely desirous of approving himself as your servant, believing that your service, is the service of God.

            I am ever yours, James Thomson.

Valencia, 1st September 1832 / Victoria 10th September 1832

Rev A Brandram  No. 12

Valencia 1st September 1832

My Dear Friend,

Agreeable to what I stated to you in my last, I embarked in La Guayra for Puerto Cabello on the 15th ultimo. Partly from want of wind, and partly from contrary winds and currents we did not reach our port till the 18th, although less than one third of the time would have been sufficient under more favourable circumstances. In Puerto Cabello I endeavoured as early as I could to get a suitable place in which I might expose the Scriptures for sale. When I had found such a place I posted up my advertisements, and waited the result.

I was enabled to gather more specific information in Puerto Cabello respecting the route I had marked out for myself in travelling through this country than I had been able to obtain either in Caracas or La Guayra. I found Puerto Cabello individuals who knew well all the different parts that lay in my way, and I obtained letters of introduction from these for the towns I had to pass through.

From Mr. Wall, the British consul in Puerto Cabello, I received much friendly attention, and had the pleasure of lodging a few days in his home. I found it quite a refreshment to be able again to call an English family my home, a pleasure which I had not enjoyed since I left the house and home of our good friend Mr. Garling in the island of Antigua.

On Saturday the 25th ultimo, after making some preparations for my inland journey, and exchanging the mattress which I bought at the London docks on embarking for a hammock, the traveling bed of this quarter, I ascended the mountain for Valencia. Mr. Wall was so very kind as accompany me all the way in order to introduce me personally to some of his friends in Valencia whose friendship he thought would be of service to me. This was a more than common act of kindness, as the distance from Mr. Wall's house to Valencia is 25 miles, and most of the way is over a high mountain. Mr. Wall has also indicated his goodwill to the British and Foreign Bible Society by becoming a subscriber. He has paid me the first annual subscription of one guinea, and which will be duly noticed in my next letter to Mr. Tarn.

The chief person to whom Mr. Wall introduced me was Dr. Peña who sometime was chief judge in the Supreme Court of Colombia held in Bogotá. Dr. Peña has paid all the attention to the introduction given me by Mr. Wall, and he has assisted me in various ways.

Valencia is the capital of the province of Carabobo. I had here therefore an opportunity of putting into the hands of the Governor the representation for the Provincial Deputation spoken of in my two last letters. There are five provinces lying westward of this, and which do not fall in my path in moving through the country. From this place I was anxious to forward my representation to these places. I was enabled to do this partly through the kindness of the Governor to whom Dr. Peña introduced me. The Governor franked my letters containing the representation to the respective governors of these five provinces. The postmaster also lent me his aid, for he sent the two little books accompanying that representation (the Four Books and Luke & Acts) by the post office free of all charge.

In Valencia I have had an opportunity, as I have had in other times and places, of speaking of the work in which you are engaged, and of the benefits which the Bible brings with it to those who get it and read it, and to all with whom these are connected. At a breakfast party in Dr. Peña's where several persons of note were present a conversation took place upon this subject. I told our friends that I considered that I was doing no mean service to their country in travelling through it for the purpose of making the Holy Scriptures, God's own word, better known in it. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, I said, and this the Scriptures teach in every page. On this volume, I added, all true religion, all sound morality, and all national security and greatness must be founded. I was happy to find that those present coincided in these sentiments, and expressed a wish that the word of God should be extensively circulated in the country. I always think that something is gained when the Bible is brought forward and acknowledged as a book we should read if we would be happy here and hereafter. And in a Catholic country this is still more important. These occasional words and hints I trust the God of the Bible will bless for preparing the way for greater, I hope the general, circulation of the Scriptures in this land.

In my last letter to you from Caracas I mentioned the route I intended to take through this country in passing towards Trinidad to resume my labours among the West India Islands. It is my wish to be in the island mentioned in the end of October. On making the calculation of the time required in taking the route of Barinas I have found that it is likely to detain me perhaps a good while beyond the time I stated for being in Trinidad. The distance is considerable, and this is the wet season. The rivers too in the course, which are many, are at this time of year often swelled so much as to detain the traveler some time before he can pass them. I have therefore now changed my intended course and instead of going to Barinas, I intend to go by Calaboso,  lying toward the Southeast of this, and then from that to San Fernando de Apure which is one of the points of the route formerly mentioned. I take in my course the valleys of Aragua lying on the banks of the lake of Valencia, as this is one of the most populous parts of the country. By this change I expect sooner to arrive at Trinidad, and also to visit a larger population in the course I pass through than by the other tract.

Victoria 10th September 1832

On the third instant I left Valencia furnished with letters for my new course by Dr. Peña and by the Vicar of Valencia whose friendship I was happy to enjoy during my short stay in that place. I am furnished by him with letters to a priest in Calaboso, and to another priest in San Fernando.

In my way to this place I have stopped twice, namely, that the towns of Juacára, and Maracay. In both places I endeavoured to publish the word of God by hoisting my white flag with letters on it that might be read from a distance. I got this flag made in Valencia as I thought it would be more suitable for my purpose in my quick passing through the towns than the advertisements. I am sorry to say that my success was far from encouraging. In Juacára I sold – none: the Lord lay not this indifference to their charge. In Maracay I sold a few copies which was some encouragement after what take took place in Juacára. In these valleys surrounding the Lake of Valencia although the population is considerable, it is chiefly a slave population. The Estates or Plantations in this valley are cultivated almost entirely by slaves. But the slaves here are not favoured like the slaves in Antigua, and some other of the English islands. Alas! here there is no instruction for the poor slaves – no, none at all. There is no school for him to go to, as there is for the slaves in Antigua: there is no church nor chapel where he can hear the Scriptures read and expounded, and where he might here and learn the love of God to poor sinners in his Son Jesus Christ: there is no Sunday school where the Christian minister and his assistants bring the gospel as it were near home to the limited understandings of the poor slaves. Alas for it! All these things are yet to do here, and nothing is even begun. But your sending the Scriptures here may I trust in some measure be a kind of beginning, for if those who are free get and read the word of God it will in due time lead and induce them to teach the slave to read and to give him the holy Scriptures to peruse.

I am here, in this town of Victoria, through a letter of introduction brought with me, comfortably lodged and boarded in the house of the Alcalde, or chief magistrate of the place. Tomorrow I intend to leave this on my way direct to Calaboso, and thence on the River Apure. I have some Bibles and Testaments here for sale after I leave the place, as I did also in Puerto Cabello and Valencia.

The number of copies of the Scriptures already sold here is small, as has also been the case in every town I have stopped that in my present visit to this country. I wish I saw here something like what took place some years ago in Guayaquil, Quito, and other parts in that quarter. This little success here numerically should lead us the more earnestly to pray that God may gave of his Spirit more abundantly with this scanty circulation of his word, that so his name may be more known here than appearances indicate by the small quantity of seed sown. In this manner would his grace be made more manifest, and his name more glorified. May the Lord indeed grant that a double and a much greater proportion of his Spirit may be poured out in this quarter with his word now circulated to the glory of his most holy name; and to whom be the glory and all things, for ever and for ever.

                        I am, My Dear Friend,

                                    Affectionately Yours,

                                                James Thomson.