To the Rev.A.Brandram (ENDORSED:recd.Apr.8,1839)20MARCH 1839,MADRID,CALLE SANTIAGO.
REVD.AND DEAR SIR,-Having much to communicate,and of no slight importance,I shall offer no apology for now addressing you.My last letter was from Naval Carnero,in which I informed you of various circumstances,connected with the distribution of the blessed Gospel,which had recently occurred.I likewise stated that it was very probable that I should proceed to Talavera,for the purpose of seeing what might be done in that neighbourhood.
The day,however,subsequent to dispatching my letter ushered in events which compelled me to alter my resolution;twenty Testaments were seized in a village in the neighbourhood of Naval Carnero,and I learned that our proceedings,on the other side of Madrid,had caused alarm amongst the heads of the clergy,who made a formal complaint to the Government -who immediately sent orders to all the ALCALDES of the villages,great and small,in New Castile to seize the New Testament wherever it might be exposed for sale,but at the same time to be particularly careful not to detain or maltreat the person or persons who might be attempting to vend it.
An exact description of myself accompanied these orders,and the authorities,both civil and military,were exhorted to be on their guard against me,and my arts and machinations;for,as the document stated,I was to-day in one place and to-morrow at twenty leagues distance.On receiving this intelligence,I instantly resolved to change for a time my strategic system,and not to persist in a course which would expose the sacred volume to seizure at every step which I might take to circulate it.I therefore galloped back to Madrid,leaving Vitoriano to follow.It will be as well to observe here,that we sold twenty and odd Testaments in villages adjacent to Naval Carnero,before the orders had arrived.
Arrived at Madrid,I lost not a moment in putting into execution the plan which I had formed.Having an extensive acquaintance amongst the lower orders,I instantly selected eight of the most intelligent to co-operate with me,amongst whom were five women.
All these I supplied with Testaments,and then sent them forth to all the parishes in Madrid.I will at once state the result which,I confess,has more than answered my expectations.Since my return from Naval Carnero nearly six hundred copies of the life and words of Him of Nazareth have been sold in the streets and alleys of Madrid,a fact which I hope I may be permitted to mention with gladness and with decent triumph in the Lord.There is a place in Madrid called the Puerta del Sol,which is a central spot,surrounded with shops,into which the four principal streets disembogue,if I may be allowed the expression.These streets are the Calle Alcala,the Calle Montera,the Calle Mayor,and that of Carreta.The wealthiest of all these is the Calle Montera,where reside the principal merchants and shop-keepers of Madrid;it is in fact the street of commerce,and is in many respects similar to the Zacatin of Granada.Every house in this street is supplied with its Testament,and the same may be said with respect to the Puerta del Sol;nay,in some instances every individual in the house,man and child,man-servant and maid-servant,is furnished with a copy,which we have invariably sold,and never given.My Greek Antonio has made wonderful exertions in this quarter,and it is but justice to say that but for his instrumentality,on many occasions,I might be by no means able to give so favourable an account of the spread of the Bible in Spain,as I now conscientiously can.There was a time when,as you are well aware,I was in the habit of saying,'Dark Madrid,'an expression which I thank God I may now drop;for can that city justly be called 'dark'in which thirteen hundred Testaments,at least,are in circulation and in daily use?
