THE WORK OF EVANGELISATION.

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and Ribera are splendidly represented. Of the Italian school there are fortythree Titians-a gallery in themselves. Raphael has ten great pictures; one or two are of doubtful authenticity; one or two others have been injured by over-cleaning; but there are three of first-rate excellence-a Holy Family, known as the Perla, which once belonged to our Charles I.; a Christ bearing the Cross, known to art-critics as el Pasmo, from having been painted for the Church of la Madonna del Spasimo in Sicily; and a picture of Tobit and the Fish, “a simple, grand, symmetrical composition." Guido, Titian, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, Rubens, Teniers, Snyders, Breughel, Claude, and other great names in art have some of the finest productions upon the walls. The pictures altogether exceed two thousand in number; and it is perhaps no exaggeration when Ford styles it the "richest gallery in the world."

Before leaving Madrid it seems proper to take notice of the work of evangelisation in progress there. The Spaniards had been kept for many generations in blind, unquestioning adhesion to the Church of Rome. They had been either ignorant of the existence of Protestantism, or had been taught to believe that it was an atheistic and immoral system. Much preparatory work had therefore to be done in the way of removing prejudices. The misconceptions prevalent as to the nature of Protestantism produced indeed one unexpectedly beneficial effect. Infidelity and atheism had made fearful progress amongst the people. Though in outward form every one was, and was compelled to be, a Roman Catholic, yet multitudes were in heart estranged not only from the Papal Church, but from all religious belief. They had been sedulously taught that the Protestants were, openly and avowedly, what they themselves were secretly. Hence, after the revolution, when liberty came to be enjoyed, and places were opened for Protestant worship, crowds came together under the impression that they were invited to assist in an infidel propaganda. This idea was so fixed and inveterate that even to this day it has been found impossible altogether to eradicate it. Under the same impression the Bible was largely bought during the early days of the revolutionary excitement. The priests had strenuously insisted that to introduce the Bible into Spain would be to open the flood-gates to infidelity and anarchy. The people took them at their word. Wherever the Bible was offered for sale it was bought up with avidity, in the belief that it was an infidel book. Gradually these errors are being corrected, the ferment is subsiding, and the work of evangelisation, as it loses its sensational and exciting character, is assuming a healthier tone.

The discovery of the relics of the martyrs who had perished in the fires of the Inquisition gave an immense impetus to the spread of the gospel. It brought vividly before the people the iniquities of the system from which they had just escaped. It showed them, too, that Protestantism was no new

thing in Spain, but that it had flourished at the time of their greatest national glories, and that their national decline had been coincident with its suppression. There was a large distribution of Bibles and tracts amongst the excited crowds who flocked to the spot. If the Protestant preachers had chosen to avail themselves of the agitation thus produced, it would have been easy for them to have driven every priest from Madrid, amidst the curses and execrations of the people. A wiser and more Christian course was pursued. The evangelists working in the city, whilst they endeavoured to calm the agitation, turned it to good account.

A personal narrative of what I saw during three days in May of the present year (1870), will perhaps put the facts of the case before the reader in the briefest and most precise form. On Thursday, May 5, I visited in the morning the Protestant schools in the Madéra baja. About eighty boys and girls were in attendance. They were bright, intelligent children, varying in age from six to fourteen years. The system of teaching seemed thoroughly good, and the children's knowledge of Scripture was extraordinary. In the afternoon I attended a meeting for prayer held by various English and Englishspeaking workers in Madrid, irrespective of sect or party. At five in the afternoon a service was held in the Madéra baja. The congregation consisted of from six hundred to seven hundred persons-all Spaniards, except about a dozen English visitors. I have never seen a more attentive and devout congregation, and I never heard a more earnest evangelical sermon. It was from the words, "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The preacher most eloquently and forcibly illustrated our need of peace with God, showed that till justified we could not be at peace, proved that only through Jesus Christ could we be justified, and appealed to his hearers to seek, at once, that peace which Christ promises to all His followers, a promise which is fulfilled in the experience of all who trust in Him.

On Friday morning I met a number of youths who were being sent to Pau, there to receive an education fitting them to return to Spain as teachers, or to hold other posts of usefulness and influence. I then saw several children from schools in connection with congregations south of the Puerta del Sol. They sang, very sweetly, a number of the hymns with which we are familiar in England and America; such as, "I think, when I read that sweet story of old;""There is a happy land;" "Children, won't you rise and tell?" and others. These have been translated into Spanish, and are sung to the familiar tunes, which are becoming as great favourites with Spanish children as they have long been with those of England and America. In the evening I was present at a Bible class in the Lavapiese, where from twenty to thirty adults were going through a course of advanced Scriptural teaching, to prepare them for taking their place at the Communion Table.

On Sunday morning I attended the chapel in the Madéra baja, which will seat eight hundred and fifty persons. It was crowded to the doors. The sermon was from the words, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The gift of the Holy Spirit, through Christ, to a dark, sinful, sorrowing world was the subject of discourse. At the close of the sermon it was announced that Signor Cabrera, of Seville, who was passing through Madrid, would hold a supplemental service. To this at least four hundred persons remained. the afternoon I looked in at several Sunday schools, and in the evening attended service at the Lavapiese. There were from three to four hundred persons present, many of whom had Bibles, and I was exceedingly struck by the readiness and ease with which they turned to the passages of Scripture read or referred to by the preacher.

In

It must not be supposed that these were all the meetings for Protestant worship held in the city at this time. I have merely named those at which I myself was present, and I have reported the impression which they produced on my own mind. There were at least five other services going on simultaneously with that at the Lavapiese, and I was informed that all were well filled, and some were crowded.

Comparing the religious condition of Madrid two years ago with that which exists now, one is forcibly reminded of the vision beheld by the prophet Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones. It seemed impossible that those dry bones should live. A religious awakening and revival was beyond the reach of human hope. But already there is a movement and a "shaking." We have all possible encouragement to obey the command, and hopefully to trust the promise which follows-"Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me; and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army."*

The Escorial and Segovia may be visited en route to Madrid from the north. But for many reasons it is more convenient to take these places as a separate tour from the capital. The hotel accommodation is very bad at both of them; and the diligence and railway trains are so ill adjusted to one another that it is difficult to combine them as parts of a longer tour. We therefore include them in this chapter as excursions from Madrid.

The Escorial is about thirty-five miles from Madrid, on the northern line of railway. Its situation, though ill suited for a residence, is very grand

* Ezekiel xxxvii. 1-10.