Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1881 — Spantsh Hatred for Protestants. [ARTICLE]

Spantsh Hatred for Protestants.

The days of the Inquisition still survive in Spain. The same intolerance prevails in that religiously besotted land as in the times when the wheel, rack, thumbscrew, and auto-da-fe prevailed. The Spanish Romanists of today are not a whit more liberal than were their predecessors of centuries ago. The light of the nineteenth centory haa had qo eflfept op re<hovingthe Even when* tolerant laws are °MJacted thpy are openly defied and remainunenforced. The latest instance of Oathhonorof tOJn,°in» nearly v£ lage. some Protestants opened a booth for the sale of Bibles, hymn books, and other evangelical works. The nek the Pretestanta, wd\tarned the pei ple against the new device of the evil one. The Archbishop of Saragossa then took the matter In hand, and, through some petty officials, sought to

cloee their shop. The chief of poll * however, interferred, and the sale co tinned, carefully watched by tho who considered it an open doorway to perdition. When the Protestant booth had been in operation three days, a youth, 17 years of age, came along, and tak- I ing up a book commenced to read. It being cold and stormy, he was invited inside. A little questioning drew from him the following story: He had been discovered reading a Bible I and for this had been expelled from I

the college where he was studying for the priesthood, and had been disowned by his parents. He had walked in the rain three days, almost without food, and slept at the roadside, his one desire being to get to those who could tell him more about the gospel. Having expressed a desire to enter the I evangelical school, he was plaecd I

under the care of a Bible wpman in the city, with whom he might have had a very happy home, but here, too, the Catholic Archbishop interfered. He instigated the police to demand the boy’s letter of authorization from his father to leave home, without which the law forbade his residence In Bara-1 gossa. . At this juncture some distant relatives of the oqy appeared and offered to take ana provide for him on condition of his never again speaking to the Protestants, and the law at once Sve him into their custody. Such is tholic tolerance towards Protestants in Spain. If the cases were reversed what a howl there would go up from the Vatican against Protestant intolerance.—Cleveland Leader.