"Woe to thee, Simon Magus! Woe to you,
His wretched followers! who the things of God,
Which should be wedded unto goodness, them,
Rapacious as ye are, do prostitute
For gold and silver in adultery!"
—Dante.
IN His grace God is pleased to bring men to Himself by very different means. He gently opens the heart of a Lydia as she quietly listens to His word, and He gives peace to the troubled jailor, who in the agony of his soul cries: “What must I do to be saved?” Luigi's conversion was more like the latter. He was “born again “in the midst of a great religious agitation. His own brother had become a Christian, and had just been arrested for his faith by the authorities still under the dominion of the papal Rome. Late the same evening the gendarmes came to the house to make an inquisition! Through a little hole in the door Luigi could see who the visitors were, and before opening hurried to hide his brother's Bibles and other books, and the search proved fruitless.
But Luigi had not yet hid God's Word in his own heart, and hence he still feared man. But the impression produced upon him by the visit of the gendarmes did not leave him with their departure. He reflected upon the reason why his dear brother was in prison while he was free and at home! “He is a Christian and I am not. He is not ashamed of the Gospel: I am, because I have not believed it."
This is ever God's order: believing, then confession, “for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation “(Rom. 10:1010For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10)).
So Luigi decided to become a Christian and confess Christ, for Whom he at once became a witness and a worker. He began to distribute the Bible secretly among the people, but he was spied, and had to leave the province until 1859, when liberty of conscience was granted to all.
The Gospel had spread in Italy, and had reached the snowy Alps, the Lombard plains and the fertile fields of Tuscany, but Rome was still walled against it. Pius IX. sat in the Vatican, surrounded by 11,000 rooms, halls, galleries and chapels. On the 18th July, 1870, his papal infallibility had been decreed. Three days previously the Franco-Prussian war had been declared. The coincidence was not casual: all had been planned. The war was to result in such a way that it would prove to be the seal of Providence upon the decree of the papal infallibility. Popery has made many very fallible decrees, but never one more fallible than the “infallibility." It has cost her the loss of the “temporal power” and the loyalty of the Latin nations.
The hopes of the Italians were rising daily, and they saw the day approaching when Italy would be a united country. But Rome, their greatest and most famous center, was still in the hands of the papacy, supported by the French troops. In July, 1870, however, at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war, the French forces were recalled from Rome, and left the city on the 8th of August. The French surrendered at Sedan on the 2nd of September, and immediately thereafter the Republic of France came into being.
This modified the political difficulty under which King Victor Emmanuel had been laboring, and he felt himself free to make Rome the capital of his new kingdom. He notified his intention to the Pope, who made a vain appeal to the King of Prussia. The Italian army advanced to the city of the Caesars, and Pius IX. offered only a formal resistance.
The 20th September, 1870, is the most illustrious date in the history of the union of Italy. On that day the Italian army made the famous breach in the wall at Porta Pia, and entered Rome. King Victor Emmanuel's saying has proved true: “Ci Siamo e ci resteremo" (Here we are and here we shall remain).
But the breach of Porta Pia had another loftier significance: it not only opened the way for political liberty, but for religious freedom in Italy, and therefore it was beautifully significant that at the rear of the Italian army, a true servant of Christ, armed only with the sword of the Spirit, should enter Rome by the breach of Porta Pia! That Porta (gate) and all the other gates of Rome had been closed against the Gospel: that wall represented the stronghold of popery.
Who was that Gospel pioneer that entered Rome on the 20th September, 1870? Was he clad in military costume, armed with military weapons, surrounded by military escort? No! It was Luigi, the humble and faithful colporteur of the British and Foreign Bible Society. He passed through the breach, not with the heavy wagon of artillery drawn by war horses, but with a small cart load of Bibles drawn by his faithful dog. Roman Generals long ago had entered the Eternal City in brilliant triumph, wearing the victor's garland, but when Luigi passed the breach of Porta Pia no outward display greeted him: he was at the rear of the Italian army, and was taking to papal Rome what 1800 years before the Apostle Paul took to pagan Rome, " the Gospel of Christ," which is " the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth " (Rom. 1:1616For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)).
As Luigi entered Rome with the Bible he felt that the priests feared and hated it more than the cannons of King Victor Emmanuel; but he had entered Rome for Christ, and could say by faith: “Here we are and here we shall stay." The Scripture came to his remembrance with comforting power: “The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds “(2 Cor. 10:44(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) (2 Corinthians 10:4)). He remembered how the Apostle Paul closed his epistle to the saints in Rome with a sublime doxology which we may call the doxology of the Divine Revelation: " Now unto Him that is able to stablish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be the glory forever. Amen."
Luigi remembered, too, how Clement of Rome, whom the papacy claims as her fourth Pope, wrote to the Church in Corinth, towards the close of the first century: “You have read the Holy Scripture, and you are well instructed in it; you have applied yourselves assiduously to meditate upon it. Preserve it in your memory, and reflect often upon it in your spirit."
He contrasted with Clement's letter the Index of Pope Innocent XI., published in Rome, in which the Holy Scriptures, in whole or in part, are prohibited.
With the dawn of religious liberty in Italy, the leaders in the Gospel testimony, competent to judge, considered that the best translation of the° Holy Scriptures in Italian was that made by Diodati from the Hebrew and Greek texts, and published by him in 1607, and which then and since received the highest praise from the most learned and impartial scholars in Italy. This is the version which Luigi introduced to Rome, and which is adopted by all the evangelical Churches in Italy. But it was regarded by the papacy as the most dangerous book in Rome. So Luigi had to make another breach in the papal wall, and carry the Word of God in Italian, published by the British and Foreign Bible Society, into the very camp of the enemy. That was pioneering! A heterogeneous crowd witnessed his entrance. Some hailed the Gospel messenger, others wondered who he was, while the proud Roman said: “Civis Romanus sum. Take your Bible to Peking if you will, but do not bring it to Rome, the center of Christianity." To this latter class Luigi had always one answer: If you will publish a faithful edition of the Holy Scriptures in Italian, at a price which will enable the people to purchase them, and if you will circulate them publicly, then I shall go to Peking."
Luigi had many discussions with the priests, especially at the beginning of his testimony and work in Rome. One day he was offering the Holy Scriptures to a number of people who had gathered around him. A clerical entering the little crowd, accosted him: “What right have you to circulate these false books?”
Promptly and clearly Luigi replied: " This is a very serious and illegal charge to make against me thus in public, namely, that I am circulating false books, and I could bring you to answer for it before the law; but as it is in the form of a question, and especially for the sake of those around me, I will answer it now."
Meanwhile the presence and attitude of the prelate had attracted a large crowd, and Luigi, addressing him, said: " You have really raised two questions: the moral character of my books, and my right to offer them. I shall answer the last point first, and shall prove to you that the books I have offered these people are genuinely what they are said to be, the Word of God."
“I repeat: your books are false," angrily exclaimed the Romanist.
“Now, sir," replied Luigi, “I now afford you the opportunity of proving this charge in the presence of those who have heard you repeating it. I do not suppose you have any version of the Holy Scriptures, but I have here a copy of the Vulgate, authorized by your Church. Will you take it and judge whether this Italian translation is correct. I shall read it aloud, and you will follow in the Vulgate: John 16."
“What the Church declares is sufficient for us. We do not need your Bible," abruptly answered the prelate.
“No, sir. What the Church says is not sufficient. Listen to God's Word: He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches’
(Rev. 2:77He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)). Now these seven churches represent the history of the Church on earth, and each Church, each period of its history, each error and evil, is considered in these Scriptures. So that the Scriptures judge the Church, and not, as you suggest, the Church judges the Scriptures."
“I repeat my demand: what right have you to circulate these books I”
Luigi was ready for this his second point: " As you, sir, have challenged me publicly, in the fulfillment of my duties, let me explain, what you evidently ignore, namely, that I have a double right to offer this Book (holding it up) to the people: a Divine right and a human right. Let me read you what the Apostle Paul says on the subject: I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ' (Rom. 1:1515So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. (Romans 1:15)); and he clearly tells us how we may know what the Gospel is: For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures' (1 Cor. 15:33For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (1 Corinthians 15:3)). Now, note that expression repeated: according to the Scriptures.' Here (holding up the Bible) is my Divine right. And here (producing a document from his pocket) is my human right. I have a legal license permitting me publicly to sell this Book."
“That will do! It was a sad day when you and your Bibles were allowed to enter Rome! “exclaimed the discomfited clerical, as he made his way through the crowd.
" One word more, sir," requested Luigi, " I entered Rome by yonder breach made by the Italian army at Porta Pia, and as God has so graciously granted this liberty, I am hoping to see many other breaches made in the hearts and consciences of the people within this, the papal stronghold, by His Word which is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the hearts'" (Heb. 4:1212For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)).