LITERARY SPECTATOR.
M'CRIE'S HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN SPAIN.
THE history of the Reformation is usually confined to the quarters where it was successful : failure, as commonly happens, has been followed by either oblivion or obloquy. In those countries where the blood of the martyrs was shed in vain, the memory even of the high resolution, the noble courage, and the passion for living truth has passed away ; and among their neighbours and fellow sufferers, it has not been duly treasured up. Dr. M'Cnuis is the Old Mortality of the Reformation : he has chipped anew many mouldering names, and revived the fading memorials of many glorious trials. If the reader loves contrasts, and would wish to behold the two extremes of which human nature is capable, he will find them simply but still . vividly depicted in this excellent volume : in the history of the Spanish struggle for religious [freedom, are to be found all that can ennoble our species, and all that debases it lower than the beasts that perish. Before we read this history, although we had previously paid some attention to the subject, we had no idea of the real extent of the Reformation in the Peninsula. Spain, thanks to its Inquisition, has so long been buried in submissive orthodoxy, which had apparently taken root in a most congenial soil, that„ in the absence of mtbrmahon, we should not have anticipated two important conclusions—first, the long original independence of the church of Spain ; and next, the warm and cordial reception which the Reformed doctrines met with there when they had once been broached by LUTHER and his disciples. The anecdotes connected with this last remarkable fact, have been collected with great industry, and arranged with much care, by Dr. M'Cuis ; who, after having written worthily the life' of the Scottish LUTHER, has found a most congenial, occupation in following up the less known events relating. to this great moral revolution. The History of the Reformation In Spain is a sister work to the Hietary of the Reformation in Italy; 6 book which appeared two or three years ago, and which we read ,with great interest, and we hope with some improvement.
The attention of individuals in 'Spain was first attracted to the Re
formed doctrines by the publications of LUTHER, translated into Spanish, and forwarded into that country by 'FROBEN and other printers of Switzerland and Germany.. The connexion subsisting between Germany and Spain through the medium of the Emperor CHARLES V. also contributed to, this object. In his frequent visits to Germany, he was accompanied by secretaries and divines, who had interviews with MELANCTHON• and others ; and several of them, after their return, were seized by the vigilant and implacable Inquisition.as, suspected Lutherans, and made to submit both to penance and im prisonment, happy to escape Sc lightly. At this time, Lutheranism is supposed to have spread considerably though silently: there had been found no one, however, as yet bold enough to profess his belief in the new doctrines openly. Spain wanted her LUTHER: he at length appeared in the person of Ronitioo DE VALER. "It required," says M'Cum, "a person of an adventurous spirit to burst this terrible barrier which opposed the entrance of the gospel into Spain, and to raise the standard of truth within sight of the flames of the Inquisition." RODRIGO DE VALER was a young nobleman of Lebrixa, distant about thirty miles from Seville, where he chiefly resided. He shone among the dissipated young inen oaf fashion in his day, and gave himself up to all those kinds of pleasure and vice usually pursued by the debauched nobility of Spain. Suddenly he disappeared from the society of which he had been the life and ornament. None of the ordinary motives which then ruled mankind could be attributed to him : his health was as unimpaired as his fortune, and as he retired to no consecrated shade, it was not supposed that he was acting under the influence of the superstitious piety of the age. His splendid equipage was given up, his dress was neglected, and he shut himself in' his closet, devoted to reading and meditation. VALER had procured a Latin translation of the Bible, and had wholly given himself up to the study of it By dint of application by day and by night, he became so well acquainted with the contents of the Scriptures that he could repeat almost any passage in them from memory, and.explaiii it with promptitude and intelligence. It is not known whether he had other means of instruction, or what circumstances led him to this course of study. Certain it is, that he was led to form a system of doctrine not different from that of the Reformers of Germany, and to lay the foundation of a church in Seville, which was Lutheran in all the mein articles of belief. When VALER had stored his mind with religious knowledge, and felt himself in a condition to enlighten others, he abandoned his solitude, and once more frequented the crowded scenes of life, but with a far higher motive than before in the days of his dissipation. It was now his sole business to impart his impressions of the divine.truth ; and with this view he more especially sought out the clergy and monks. Them he addressed, first in the *ay of exhortation and advice, and afterwards in the severer language of reproof. When he found his efforts vain, and that he was avoided by them, he would throw himself in their way, and did not hesitate to introduce his favourite but dangerous topics in the public walks and other places of resort. It was not to be expected that so offensive a course would long escape the notice of that institution which even in the very first year of its establishment in Castile committed two thousand persons to the flames. VALER was brought before the Inquisitors, with whom he maintained a keen dispute on the church, the marks by which it is distinguished, justification, and similar points. It is extraordinary, that for this time the Inquisition permitted him to escape with life: . whether moved by his rank, or by the solicitations of persons of influence, who, it is supposed, bad secretly imbibed his doctrines, the
Ll
Inquisitors pretended to believe that their prisoner was insane. He was dismissed with the loss of his property but neither the confiscation of pods nor the apprehension of death in the least influenced his conduct. He was again apprehended by the Holy Office ; and this time was condemned to wear the sanbenito, and to imprisonment for life. But so little was he subdued by the prospect before him, that when led to the church in his penitential dress, he did not scruple to address the audience after the sermon. Far lighter Offences than this were visited with fire : in his case, however, it was preferred to attribute his extravagance to insanity. He died imprisoned in a monastery. of St. Lucas, a town at the mouth of the Guadalquiver. His sanbenitb, Whin was hung up in the metropolitan church of Seville, long attraeted.curioSity by its extraordinary size, and the inscription it bore : "Rodrigo Valer, a citizen of Lebnxa and Seville, an apostate and false KpOsfle, who pretended to be sent of God." The Most distinguished of the converts of VALER was JUAN GIL, celebrated under the name of Doctor EGIDIUS. This learned man was famonS in the University of Alcala for scholastic attainments, and had been chosen for his acquirements to the office of Canon Mag,istral or preaeher in the Cathedral Church of Seville. But however well skilled in LOMBARD, AQUINAS, and SCOTUS, he did not satisfy his audience from the chair, and had begun to entertain thoughts of relinquishing his situation. In this state of mind he was met by.VALER; who' pointed out the source of his defects, and directed him to the serious perusal of the Word of God. The advice was listened to, and EGIDIUS became one of the most powerful and affecting preachers in the church of Spain. In the sacred work of instruction he ftrudd two able assistants, in two other preachers of eminence; Doctor VARGAS and CONSTANTINE PONCE DE LA FUENTE, Wh011ike hifnself had profited by the instructions of VALER: these three pithii and able individuals contrived to cooperate in advancing the common cause, by means of lectures and private societies, held by each other in turd, or composed of different classes of people. The celebrity of 'EGIDIUS at length caused the Emperor to present him to the bishopric of Tortosa, the richest see in Spain. The Inquisition had long kept a vigilant watch on the three, and the preferment of EGIDIUS was the signal for an attack upon him. He was apprehended and thrown into the secret prisons of the Holy Office ; and ultimately condemned to imprisonment for three years, to abstain from writing or teaching for ten years, and not to leave the kingdom under pain of being burnt alive. EGIDIUS appeared among the criminals condemned -to penance in an auto da fd celebrated at Seville in 1552. The term of his imprisonment expired in 1555, very soon after which he died.
The Reformed religion was introduced into Valladolid by a spirit as unflinching and energetic as that of VALER. SAN ROMAN, a native of Burgos, was a young man engaged in mercantile pursuits on the part of a Spanish house at Antwerp ; business led him to Bremen, where he was deeply impressed by thetruth of the Reformed doctrines. His zeal was not terimered by discretion ; he advocated his new opi nions in season and out of season. Twice he gained an audience of the Emperor CHARLES V., and in glowing terms represented the be , nighted state of the Spanish church. After the second audience he was apprehended, and sent under a rigorous guard to be tried by the proper tribunal in Spain. His process before the Inquisition of Valladolid was short ; he frankly confessed his belief in the doctrines of the Reformation, and denounced the mass, auricular confession, in , vocation of saints, and the worshipping of images, to be blasphemy against the living God. He endured the horrors of a protracted imprisonment with the utmost fortitude and patience. He resisted all the importunities of the friars to induce him to recant. He refused, at the place of execution, to purchase a mitigation of punishment by making confession to a priest or bowing to a crucifix which was placed before him. When the flames first reached him on his being fastened to the stake, he made an involuntary motion with his head; upon which the friars in attendance exclaimed that he was become penitent, and ordered him to be brought from the fire. On recovering his breath, he looked them calmly in the face, and said, "Did you envy my happiness ? " He was quickly thrust back into the flames, and almost' instantly suffocated. The novelty of the crimes with .which he was charged, joined to the resolution which he displayed on the scaffold and at the stake, produced a sensible impression on the spectators. A proclamation was issued by the inquisitors, forbidding any to pray for his soul, or to express a favourable opinion of so obstinate a heretic. Nevertheless; some of the Emperor's body guards collected his ashes as thoseof a martyr ; and the English Ambassador, who happened to be at Valladolid at that time, used means to procure a part of his bones as a relic. ; rWithin a few years after the martyrdom of SAN ROMAN, a number • of favourers of the Reformed doctrines formed themselves into a church, which met regularly in private for the purpose of religious instruction and worship ; and it may be mentioned as an indication of the progress of the Reformation in Spain in the few subsequent years, that not only were several congregations organized in secret, but one entire monastery received the truth, and became enlightened Protestants in all but a few external marks. This was the Hieronymite convent of San Isidro del Campo, within two miles of Seville. At length the attention of the Inquisition, which had been directed to other objects, was roused, and the persecution of the Lutherans began. At Seville, the secret meetings of the Reformers were disclosed by treachery. At Valladolid, a goldsmith, who assembled with others for private worship, and had concealed the place of meeting from his wife, was dogged by her to the spot : she had been gained by her confessor, and communicated the fact to the Inquisition. Measures were taken for [a simultaneous seizure over the whole country. At Seville, two hundred persons were apprehended in one day ; and there and at Valladolid, all the prisons and convents and castles were quickly filled with victims. The history of their conduct and their ultimate fate is one of the most heart-stirring pages of the book of mankind.
The result of the persecution, or rather the extermination of the Protestants of Spain, is before the world. Spain is Catholic, and sunk in the lowest state of debasement. The brutal Inquisition has succeeded in keepingdown all freedom of religious opinion to this day. Opinion, however, • is a fluid of almost perfect elasticity : excluded from the natural opening presented by religion, it sought eventually that of politics. We have seen how the BOURBONS and FERDINAND have played the part of the Inquisition in this depart ment of human interests.
We cannot put the last stroke of the pen to this slight sketch of the contents of Dr. M'Cras's volume, without thanking him for the instruction we have derived from his works, and at the same time contributing our mite of approbation of his useful and disinterested labours.
Previous page
