Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/167

143 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 143 persevere, representing that the present afflictions chapter were intended as a trial of their faith by the Al- '. mighty, who designed in this way to guide them to the promised land, by opening a path through the waters, as he had done to their fathers of old. The more wealthy Israelites enforced their exhor- tations by liberal contributions for the relief of their indigent brethren. Thus strengthened, there were found but very few, when the day of departure arrived, who were not prepared to abandon their country rather than their religion. This extraordi- nary act of self-devotion by a whole people for con- science' sake may be thought, in the nineteenth century, to merit other epithets than those of " per- fidy, incredulity, and stiff-necked obstinacy," with which the worthy Curate of Los Palacios, in the charitable feeling of that day, has seen fit to stig- matize it.^ When the period of departure arrived, all the Routes of principal routes through the country might be seen slants. swarming with emigrants, old and young, the sick and the helpless, men, women, and children, min- gled promiscuously together, some mounted on hor- ses or mules, but far the greater part undertaking their painful pilgrimage on foot. The sight of so much misery touched even the Spaniards with pity, though none might succour them ; for the grand inquisitor, Torquemada, enforced the ordinance to that effect, by denouncing heavy ecclesiastical cen- 9 Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, MS., cap. 10. 113. — Ferreras, Hist, d' Espagne, torn. viii. p. 131.
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