ON?HE INQUISITION
DELIVERED IN
SPRING ST. CHURCH,
MILWAUKEE,
BY REV, JOSEPH G, WILSON,
PROF., MILWAUKEE UNVERSITY,
MARCH, 1853.
MIL  L A UK E E:
S. Af. BOOTH-BOOK AND JOB PRINTER.D11CCCLIT1,








A CARD.
PROF. WILSON:
There is great interest expressed in your able and instructive Lectures on
the I'nquisition. We are desirous to see them in a permanent form, that those
who did not hear them, as well as ourselves, may have the pleasure and profit
of their perusal.
We therefore respectfully solicit a copy for publication.
GEO. F. AUSTIN,        ROBT. E. GILLETT,
E. D. I-HOLTO,;        S. 3M. BOOTH,
S. C. W'EST,           ROBERT HIBBARD,
P. C. HALE,             L. KENNEDY,
G. P. HEWITT,          J. IL. FRISBIE,
J. S. DOUGLAS,          W. P. FLANDERS,
H. S. BURTON,           A. HOLBROOK,
L. H. COTTON,           W. VW. LAKE,
E. D. BAKER,            PHItNEAS M. JOHNSON,
H. B. DELLICKER,        AVERY HILL,
-M. TAINTOR,            EDWIN PALMER,
J. W. VAIL.
Milwaukee, March 30, 1853.
Milwaukee, April 4, 1853.
fMessrs. Gco. F. Austin, E. D. BIolton, S. C. Irest, P. C. hIale, G. P. Hewitt, J.
S. Douglas, H. S. EBr'ton, and otlhers:
GENTLEMEN:-After some hesitation, I have decided, as soon as my professional engagements will permit, to place a copy of the Lectures which vyou
have expressed a desire to publish, at your disposal.
Yours respectfully,
J. G. 1WILI.SON.








THE INQUISITION.
The right of every man to perfect liberty of Religion and
of Conscience, a right guarantied by the Creator, as the sacred
heritage of the soul, inseparable from its existence and indispensable to its responsibility, has been maintained and defended by all good Governments, Civil and Ecclesiastical, in
every age of the world; and is restrained only by tyrants.Persecution for the exercise of the rights of Conscience, is
repugnant to the profound mysteries of human life, and to
the inviolable principles and order of Nature. All the refined instincts of the human soul cry out against it; and the
only apology that can be presented in extenuation of the,
atrocities of a former age, must be derived from the ignorance and barbarism of those by whom they were enacted.
Opinions may be confuted without prejudice to right; but
freedom of thought and of expression may not be suppressed
without sin in the sight of God, and violence against man.Within the domain of Conscience, no Potentate nor Priest
has a right to enter; and the intruder within that sacred enclosure should be expelled, as the apostate angels were rejected from the Courts of Heaven.
A Church "out of which there is no salvation," has no
divine warrant for enforcing the true faith upon unwilling
disciples; for Jehovah himself, in all the merciful discipline
of Providence and Grace, recognizes and respects the moral




6                 TIHE T:INQUI1SITION.
freedom and personal responsibility of his people. The
Government, therefore, or Hierarchy, which pronounces sentence of proscription upon opinions or doctrines to which
millions of men, enlightened and honest, conscientiously adhere, is a bold, presumptuous usurpation of the prerogative of
Jehovah-an assumption of' despotic power, inconsistent
with the rights of man and the peace of the world; for
should a whole nation agree to worship according to the ritual of the Grand Lama, or Sovereign Pontiff, to-day, they
may be burned to-morrow for having done so, either by the
capricious monarch, or by his unprincipled successor.
Those persons, whether Catholics or Protestants, who, in
contempt of personal interest, and in the face of danger, endure persecution, are martyrs to their convictions of truth —
the world's true noblemen, worthy of a better fate than exile or imprisonment; to whose memory we might appropriately, in emulation of the spirit of antiquity, erect altars and
statues, as having displayed the highest efforts of human
virtue.
American citizens hold in reprobation the principle of Inquisitorial persecution, and the artful appeals of Priestcraft
cannot reconcile them to the diabolical policy of tyrants.The American guaranty of the freedom of Conscience, in
the Constitution of the United States, is not merely an arrangement of policy, but the expression of a fundamental
principle, of universal adaptation-founded upon the nature of man and the Law  of God; and every coercive
measure, in violation of this principle, by Church or State,
by Catholics or Protestants, calls fbr the reprobation of the
whole civilized world.
Violent exceptions do not destroy the principle —flagrnant:fa.na~tical o1t:rages do not justify its repudiation, and. even the




LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE.                7
Italian States should be required, by the moral force of civilized nations, to pay respect to this primary article of the
Christian faith. Every Roman Cathedral and humble Chapel
in the country is a monument of the Catholic liberality of the
founders of our Government; for had they imitated the example of the Sect of Rome, freedom of Conscience would
have been accorded only to the dominant majority. Every
free government, and every truly Catholic Church, respects
and cherishes the rights of minorities.
American citizens in Italy, and protesting Catholics,
should be permitted to exercise the rights of conscience,
even in sight of the Vatican, as do the vassals of the Pope,
under the protecting JEgis of the Constitution of the United
States; and the burning indignation of the world should be
aroused against the State or Council, Civil or Ecclesiastical,
which subjects God's freemen to torture, imprisonment or
death, for non-conformity to prescribed religious dogmas or
ceremonies. The despotism which makes non-conformity a
penal offense, is a disgrace to the governing party, and an outrage upon the governed. The Church which cannot be saved
without so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of its Priesthood,
deserves to die —and it will die, for it is blasted by the breath
of the Almighty, and its ghostly officials shriek in agony at
the entrance of the light, and burn the Bible which reveals
to the perishing tribes of earth the way of Life.
Freedom of thought, of speech, and of worship, is an inalienable right; because the relation of man to the Creator
is prior and paramount to that which he sustains to society, and
cannot be affected by the changing relations of social and
political life. To establish and enforce any system of worship, transcends the lawful prerogative of an accidental majorityr or of a, pernmarnently dominant party.  The careless and




8                 THE INQUISITION.
the hypocritical may comply with the prescribed ritual, but
the earnest, truthful worshiper must act in accordance with
his own convictions; for it is obvious, that to profess a form
of worship which our own consciences do not approve,
would be false and hypocritical. If, therefore, a constrained
obedience to a prescribed ritual be criminal, the enforcement
of it by persecution cannot be innocent.
The arrogant assumption of the right of coercing religious
opinions, is at war with the most precious interests of the
soul, for it robs man of his chief prerogative and glory-the
empire of a rational being over his own faculties.  In a
free Government, every profession, and art, and religious
faith, enjoys protection. The Merchant and the Husbandman, the Artist and the Mechanic, the man of genius and the
man of talent, the Jew and the Mahomedan, the disciples
of Confucius and of Manes, the Deist and the Christian, the
Protestant and the Romanist, pursue their chosen modes of
faith and of life, subject only to the restraining and modifying
influence of argument and example; each equally responsible
to society and to Government for his conduct, and liable to
restraint and punishment for any unlawfuil interference with
the rights of others in the exercise of a common liberty.This broad principle accords with the law of Nature and of
God; for it is but the application to social and political life,
of the first great principle of the Christian religion.
The principle of persecution is a relic of Paganism —one of
the fossil remains of a former age, preserved in the tomes of
historical and legislative records, to reward the labors of the
antiquarian, and to indicate, by a species of moral magnetism,.
the real enemies of civil and religious liberty; for to every.
right minded man, whether Catholic or Protestant, there is
a. fiendish turpitude in applying the prison, the screNr, the




LIBERTY  OF CONSCIENiCE.                9
slow fire, or the "gentle torture," to convince the judgment
and control the conscience; the hypocrite so converted being
made by the process, twofold more a child of hell than he
-was before.
The lesson of Civil and Religious -Liberty, so distinctly
taught in the Sacred Scriptures-the great charter of human
freedom-the self-appointed rulers of the earth have been
slow to learn.
In every age of the world there has been a noli mne tanggere
class of men, claiming, jure divino, a monopoly of Government, Civil and Ecclesiastical-absolute and infalliblecalled, in fatmiliar parlance, the "privileged class," emnbracirig royal and priestly dignitaries,which, professing "to know
that its teachings are certainly true, and that all other teachings are certainly false," has waged "uncompromising warfare with every element" of freedom, "within or without,"
that refused to acknowledge subjection to its usurped authority.
The claims of the popular religion were regarded as
founded upon " inf.allible certainty;" "singularity in religion"
was treated as a "treasonable offense," and many of the
best and purest minds were sacrificed to gra.tifty the demands
of a malignant fanaticism.'Daniel and Socrates were condemned for the exercise of
the rights of Conscience; non-conformity being regarded as
a penal offense, on the principle "cujus r'cio, CJus religio," a
principle which stimulates the tiger-like ferocity of' bloody
inquisitors, and sanctifies murder and revenge in the name
of Christian charity, "the most inexorable rigor" being. exercised professedly for "an unselfish and merciful end."This claim of infallible authority was the grand mistake of
the Je-wish people, Nhen  acting upon' the "4three absolute




10               THE INQUISITION.
certainties" of the "learned Haneberg," they killed the
Prophets, crucified the Son of God, and stoned the ProtoChristian Martyr-and of the Papal Hierarchy when in the
exercise of an "absolute" but fallible spiritual sway, the Inquisitorial Courts, under the direction of the Dominican Friars, were commissioned to wage uncompromising warfare
against the liberties of mankind and the peace of the world.
The fanaticism  of the Banner was exchanged for that
of the Brand. The energies of the Church having been
expended for more than a century in fruitless expeditions,
most disastrous to human life, against the enemies of the
Cross in distant lands, the fury of the Crusades was converted into a systematized persecution against the rising
spirit of inquiry within the territories of the Church. Dissent was checked-the progress of Philosophy and Reform
was restrained-and the morning twilight of' the Reformation gave place to Egyptian darkness.
The meridian splendor of PRapal usurpation, almost realizing the schemes of universal empire, cherished by Gregory
VII., (Hildebrand) who believed that the whole world belonged
to the Bishop of Rome, as Christ's Vicegerent, who wished,
3s we are informed in Harduin's Concilia, Tom. VI., to reduce all the kingdoms into fiefs of St. Peter-to subject ihe
interests of the world to an assembly of Bishops, convened
lnnually at Rome, who claimed, in his Dictates, that the Ronan Pontificate alone is justly styled universal-that he alone:an use the imperial insignia-that itislawfulfbr him to depose
Emperors-that all princes should kiss his feet only —that his;entence is not to be reviewed by any one, and that he alone:an review the decisions of all others-that he can be judged
>y no one-that he can absolve subjects from allegiance to
heir rulers, -and that the Romish Church never erred; —-and




PAPAL USURPATION'S.                11
who actually succeeded in changing the relative condition
of Church and State in Europe, by abridging and annulling
many of the rights and privileges of Emperors and Kings,
Ywas virtually attained during the Pontificate of Innocent
III.  The temporal power of the Papacy was greatly
augmented, and clthe Ecclesiastical jurisdiction seemed to
threaten the entire subversion of the Secular authorities-the
interpretation of wills, the execution of contracts, the definition of treason, and almost every variety of civil and political offenses, being claimed by Ecclesiastics for their tribunals.
Even Princes were treated as vassals of the Pope, and an
effbrt was made to secure the unity of the Church by the
suppression of dissent and the extirpation of heresy. The
Church extended her hand over Earth and Hades, deciding
dogmatically upon the laws of the material world as well as of
the Spiritual; and a person wa;s as liable to Episcopal Inquisitorial torture, for an error or a novelty in mechanics and
astronomy, as for heresy in Reli(ion or treason against the
State. Physical pains and spiritual torments were inflicted
or remitted at the pleasure of an ambitious Priesthood, who,
"'as God's vicars," fulminated "awful, unsparing anathemas"
against heretics and dissenters-constructed a temporal
fabric for the support of spiritual power-waved before the
brilliant portals of the Vatican, the dark, blood-stained edge
of the material sword, and kindled the fires of Purgatory for
the punishment and reclamation of incorrigible offenders.
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Church of
Rome was administered in accordance with these principles
— principles congenial to the pride of the human heart-a
passion in the breast of Innocent III., which the pure waters
of the Gospel were not permitted to allay. A wily diplomatist, he acquired strength from the divisions of the Em



12                THE INQUISITION.
pire; and having deposed Philip, he conferred the Imperial
diadem upon his rival, Otho. A feiv years afterwards, in
the plenitude of his power, he anathematized and deposed
Otho, wvho, <of course, could not dispute his power to do so,
and conferred the vacant throne upon Frederic.
He placed an edict upon the whole French nation, under
Phillippe Auguste, suspending the offices of the Church, the,
rites of marriage and of sepulture. In 1197, he declared
"that it was not fit for any man to be invested with authority
vnho did not serve and obey the Holy See."  This doctrine of
Papal absolutism was practically exemplified. He compelled a peace between the kings of Castile and Portugalregulated the value of coin in Arragon-distributed the insig-.nia of royalty to the Dukes of Bohemia, Wallachia, and
Bulgaria-conferred the Crown of Arragon upon Peter II.,
as his subject and tributary, and gave a king to the Armenian
nation, dwelling on the borders of the Caspian Sea.
He issued a bull of excommunication against John, (Lackland) of England, absolving his subjects from allegiance, and,commanding them to avoid his presence. This being insufficient, he pronounced the penal sentence of deposition, dedclared the throne vacant, conferred it upon Phillippe Auguste, of France, and ordered that monarch to execute the
sentence by taking possession of the kingdom. Phillippe's.obedience was secured by his ambition.
A Crusade was proclaimed against the English king, as an
infidel, or heretic. The armies were assembled on both
sides, when the Pope's Legate, Pandolph, appeared at the
camp at Dover, with thie final demands of the Pope, which the
King had courage no longer to resist, but resigned his crown
to the Legate, and received it again as a present from the




PAPAL USURPATIONS.                   13
Holy See. lie declared his dominions to belong to the Pope,
and swore fealty to Innocent as a vassal and a feudatory.
This degradation of England's monarch is, to every true
Papist, a spectacle of happy exultation, flattering to his spiritual pride, as it is humiliating to every true lover of civil
and religious liberty.
The Ecclesiastical authority was in the ascendant —the
superstiti)n of the people, in a state of' transition from barbarism to civilization, was favorable to spiritual domination;
and even the boldest monarchs submitted to the most degrading acts in token of subjection to the authority of the Sovereign Pontiffs.
The elevation of the Papacy to universal supremacy
throulghout the East and XWest, prepared the way for the establishment of the Inquisition; for so extensive a patronage
could iot b  mn.iintained without the Co-operation of a numerous body of Ecclesiastics in the several Governments
subject to the Court of Rome-an imperiunz in inmpe7io in
each of the nations of Europe, trained vassals of the Popediplomats and legates —mingling in the Councils of State,
perverting justice, and teaching semi-barbarous Kings to disregard the clainis of mercy and the instincts of humanity.
It was not until the Popes had established their authority
in almost all of the Courts of Europe, that the principles of
persecution were displayed to their full extent by professedly
Christian nations, or the practice attended with systematic
Canonical barbarity. To Innocent III. belongs the memorable distinction of having authorized the use of the sword
for the protection of the Church by the extirpation of heretics,
a distinction fully merited by his barbarous measures to repress the Albigenses, a numerous sect of Catholic Christians,
named from Albi, a city of Languedoc, which protested
against some of the errors of Rome.




14                THE INQUISITION,
Innocent III. was an able Prince. He subjected the civil
authority to the Ecclesiastical, and controlled a great portion
of the secular power of Europe. His final and most confident- appeal was to the sword.  The splendor of spiritual supremacy was eclipsed by material prosperity, and
martial glory —the law of vengeance was established by the
Canons of the Church, and the crimes of posterity were
multiplied.
The following extracts are selected from his first proclamation against the Albigenses: "Let no man afford them a
refuge on his estates: let there be no communication with
them in buying or selling: let them be deprived of the solace
of human conversation: let them be refused Christian sepulture."  In his letters to his prelates, he exhorts them  "to
gird themselves for the work of extirpation, and to employ,
if necessary, the arms of the pr:nces and of the people," thus
stimulating the people to lawless violence, should the authorities respect the rights of' citizens.
In 1198, he sent two legates into the rebellious districts, to
suppress the heresy. Afterwards, a more numerous commission invaded the haunts of heresy, at,the head of whom
was St. Dominic, the founder of the order of Friar Preachers;
And after six or seven years, these missionaries wrere known
as Inquisitors, a name not honorable nor innocent in its origin;
for they- aimed to stimulate the persecuting power of the
civil authorities.
The efforts of the Missionaries were compa.ratively fruitless, and the Albigenses continued to enjoy the powerful
protection of Count Raymond, until in 1209, the Pope
persuaded Phillipe Auguste to march into the heretical provinces, and extirpate the rebels by fire and sword.
A  military campaign  was proclaimed  against them,




CRUSADE AGAINST THE ALBIGENSES.           ]5
and a general grant of indulgences and dispensations was.promised to all who should take up arms in the holy cause.
Religious madness assured the more deliberate atrocity of
sectarian persecution.
Simon de Montfort, descended by an illegitimate branch
from Robert, King of France, was the military leader of the
Crusade, and was promised by the Pope, as the reward of
his exertions for the Church, the Earldom of Toulouse, but
of which, by a Providential retribution, he was denied, having been killed in battle before the City which the Pope had
vainly promised to bestow upon him.
There never Ywas a more unjust war, and the details of the
massacre are too horrible to be narrated. The country was
devasted with fire and sword-cities were destroyed, and the
most diabolical atrocities were perpetrated- involving the
innocent with the guilty in a common ruin. Even the apologists for the Crusade are forced to acknowledge that the contest, which did not close until the year 1227, was attended
with "unpardonable cruelties," and "flagrant outrages."When it was asked by some humane military officers, during
the storming of one of the devoted cities, how the Catholics
wvere to be distinguished from the heretics in the massacre,
Arnold, a Cisterian Abbott, replied, "Omnes ceedite-novit
Dominus, qui sunt ejus"!  The triumph was with the Pope
-"the country of the Albigenses was subdued"-the independence of the temporal princes was broken, though the
heresy became "more malignant," and the spirit of rebellion
against the despotism of Rome, became more wide-spread
and determined.
The fourth Lateran Council, convened by Innocent III.,
Nov., 1215, consisting of 77 Archbishops, 412 Bishops, and
800 Abbots and Friars, confirmed 70 Canons, dictated by the




16                 THE INQUISITION.
Pope, which contained the germinal principles of the Court
of the Inquisition, 12 or 14 years before its formal establishment.  By this Council the dogma of Transubstantiation was
established-sacramental confession was enjoined-the extirpation of heresy was resolved upon-the secular powers
were to be advised, and if need by, constrained by censures,
to make public oath that they  would exile all heretics
marked out by the Church.  "If the temporal Lord shall
neglect to free his territories from their pollution, he shall be
excommunicated; and if he shall not submit within a year,
his subjects shall be absolved from the oath of allegiance,
and his domain exposed to the conquest of Catholics."
By this celebrated Council, the secular authority was
placed at the disposal of the spiritual, under penalty, not of
spiritual censures only, but of subjugation and military
conquest.
This initial step of the Pope and Council, toforce the States
of Europe to extirpate heresy, settles the question, as to "the
odium of having contributed to deliver multitudes of human
beings to the flames." Imprisonment, exile, and death, are
awful penalties fbr the exercisa of the rights of conscience,
even when erroneous opinions have been adopted, "from
which our souls revolt," but the Roman Hierarchy is responsible for having sanctioned and enforced them; and "the
history of the Inquisition is a narrrative of the most gigantic
endeavors" to subject to "such a doom," all whom the
Church, in the plenitude of power, was disposed to denounce.
Innocent I1I. did not live to behold the successful termination of -his measures, having died suddenly at Perugia, July
16, 1216, after a long and prosperous reign of 18 years and 6
months; but the workl-of extermination, so energetically commenced, was vigorously prosecuted by succeeding Pontiffs.




ITS ESTABLISHMENT.                  17
In 1229, the system of Inquisitorial Courts was permanently established, with Episcopal jurisdiction over public
officers and private citizens. A Council assembled at Toulouse, directed and controlled by Cardinal Romanus, Legate
of' Gregory IX., invested the Institution with a formal Charter, and ordained a code of laws by which it should be governed in the suppression of heresy.
The cruelties and atrocities of the Inquisitors, in the
shameless mockery of justice which marked their bloody
course throughout the nations of Europe, were fully sustained
by the Ecclesiastical regulations defining their jurisdiction
and power.
Every Archbishop and Bishop wvas commanded to appoint
a Commission, whom they should bind under oath, to search
out heretics, their aiders, concealors and protectors, and designate them to the Bishop, Lord of the Manor, or their officers. Laymen of the highest rank were required to close
their houses, cellars, forests and castles, against fugitives from
oppression, and to use all means to detect and bring themn
to trial. Temporal princes were required to extirpate heresy
within their territories, on pain of having them confiscated.
Every house. in which a heretic was found, was to be torn
down. Persons were required, under oath, to denounce their
friends and acquaintances to the Inquisitors, whom they suspected of heresy. Neglect of Confession and of Communion, at Christmas, Easter and'Pentecost, were considered
prima facie evidences of guilt, and persons suspected of heresy were treated as if criminal, in violation of a fundamental
principle of law, that every man is to be esteemed innocent
until he is proved guilty.
The Bible was prohibited to laymen, the Psallms only
3




18                THE INQUISITION.
even of the Latin version, and the Breviary, being allowed
them; and the heretics, when sick, were denied the presence
and skill of a physician.
This was certainly a fitting, consummation of the Code of
bigoted intolerance.
Confiscation of property, banishment, imprisonment for
life, and burning, were common and approved penalties
for offienses, not against the constituted authorities of Church
or State, but for opinions, belief, the practice of the duties
of religion, and the exercise of the rights of conscience. —
The greatest rigor of persecutihg intolerance was displayed
in the treatment of penitents. It was ordained that persons
who should freely abjure their heresy, should remove into an
uninfected district-should be ineligible to any office of trust
or profit, and should be stigmatized with a mark of disgrace,
"'two colored crosses" upon their vesture, until absolved from
penance by the Pope or his Legate; but if their "conversion had been evidently the result of fear," the Bishop might
keep them under arrest, to prevent their seducing others;
and the expenses of their imprisonment were to be defrayed,either by themselves or the Bishop; an arbitrary decree, by
which estates were often confiscated, and the coffers of the
Church enriched.
In the.year 1231, Gregory IX. issued a bull excommunicating the heretics, and those who should harbor them, declaring them incapable of holding office, giving testimony, or
bequeathing or inheriting property. He caused an edict to
be proclaimed, assigning punishments to the heretics, to such
as encouraged them, afforded them an asylum, or neglected
to accuse them, and divided the confiscations between the
spy who denounced, and the judge who condemned them.He sent a. decree to the Archbishop of Milan, and to other




ITS PRINCIPLES.                  ] 9
Italian Prelates, commanding all judges to deliver to the
flames every man who should be convicted of heresy by the
Bishop of his Diocese, and to pull out the tongue of those to
whom the Bishop should think it proper to show mercy, that
they might not corrupt others by attempting to justify themselves.
In reference to the principles of the Inquisition, all candid
historians, Catholic and Protestant, are substantially agreed,
as the facts are inseparably connected with the legislative
history of Europe —and the general accuracy of Raynald,
Muratori, and other annalists of the times, is admitted even
by the professed apologists of the Institution.
The principles of the Inquisition were intrinsically unjust
and oppressive, and it is certain, that the Inquisitors abused
their power beyond measure.  The historians, Benoist,
Langlois, Perein, (Catholic) Basnage, Peter of Walceney,
(Protestant,) and others, are not free fiom partiality, as they
favor either the persecutors or their victims; but in the "Historie Generale de Langozedoc" by the Benedictine AMonks,
Claude le Vic, and Joseph Vaissette, Paris, 1730, Tom.
III., is recorded "the most full and accurate history" of the
persecuting Crusades against the Albigenses.  Modern historians, whether German, English or French, are not authorities. The value of their opinions depends upon their intellectual qualifications and moral independence. In estimating the opposing statements and extreme opinions of various
parties, it is necessary to compare them with one another,
and also with the general principles of the Inquisition, in
order to form an independent decision.  The Bulls of the
Popes, the decisions of Councils, the letters of the Pope's
Legates, and the records of the tribunals, are authorities
which will not be disputed by Romanists.




20                 THE INQUISITION.
Catholic historians are not authorities.  They may have
been mistaken, prejudiced, interested, or they may have written as they were ordered to write by their Sovereigns. Protestant historians are not authorities. Our appeal must be
made to the original records, and to the facts admitted by
both parties.
The Inquisition, though not established by St. Dominic,
who was not strictly an Inquisitor, was the result of his lab)ors, and of his principles. Meanwhile, the Dominicans,
trained to the chase, and heated by the scent of blood,
eagerly executed the labors entrusted to them. They spread
themselves over the Western world in fierce pursuit, pene-:trating even to the distant kingdoms of Spain and Poland.
Rome was the centre —the heart to which the circulating
poison constantly returned, and whence it derived a fresh:supply of virulence and malignity.  T'he Friars of St. Dominic, selected for the most part from the lower orders, were
trained especially for the extirpation of heresy, and their
energy and experience secured for them the unlimited confidence of the Bishops and Prelates. "Pope Honorius III.
recommended them  to all Bishops" as especially qualified
for the Inquisitorial office. In 1233, Gregory IX., on account
of their great zeal in the Milanese territory, published a bull
confiding the exercise of the Inquisition to the Dominicans.
Pope Innocent IV. committed to their care the extirpation of
heresy in 1248, because of the very great efficiency of their
labors.  The  Dominican tribunals were introduced into
France in 1255, in the reign of St. Louis; the Prior of the
Dominican Convent of Paris being appointed Inquisitor
General.
Before this period, the Inquisitors had not been clothed
urith ju-licial power- the process had been carried on befire




ITS PRINCIPLES.                   21
thile Bishop of the Diocese, the secular authorities being invited, when necessary, to enforce the sentence. But the reluctance of the civil authorities to execute the barbarous decrees,
sometimes retarded the work of extermination.  To remove
these impediments, the faithful myrmidons of the Roman See
were invested with a distinct jurisdiction-the Friar preachers
being, in nearly every province of Europe, the ordinary Inquisitors.  The Ecclesiastics really exercised the whole persecuting power, the secular authorities being mere instruments,
rather than accomplices.  A fanatical zeal for the supremacy
of the Pope inflamed the minds of the inferior clergy, while
Bishops and Prelates luxuriated in the spoils of confiscated
estates.
It is painful to trace the progress of this malignant infatuation in its course of devastation throughout the cities and plains
of Europe.  The burning of 180 victims in Champagne, in
the presence of a number of Bishops and Clergy, was pronounced by a Monkl who witnessed it, "a holocaust agreeable
to God"!  Greg ory IX. caused a great number of' heretics
to be burned before the' gates of Santa Maria Majora.
In the commencement of the Crusade against the Albigenses, 60,000 persons, Catholics and Protestants, are said to
have perished indiscriminately, in the destruction of the City
of Bessieres, though the Papal Legate, in writing to Rome,
reduces the number to 15,000.
At a later period, the Count of Toulouse, who had resisted
persecution within his territories, being overcome by the se-,vere measures of the Pope, associated with himself the Archbishop of' the City, and entered seriously upon the hatefulf
ttashk, and the remnant of the Albicgenses wrere consigned,
A-withotnt hope of' mercy-, to t le ca Cer hands of the Inquisitors.




22                THE INQUISITION.
Some of the unhappy victims having found refuge in the
province of Gascony, the Pope wrote to the Knights of St.
James, of Gallaciae, to extirpate them with fire and sword.
Large armies invaded the suspected districts, provided for
their necessities by the sword-lived at the expense of those
whom they oppressed-seized the harvests of the peasants,
and the goods of prosperous citizens.
In respect to the number of the victims of the Inquisition,
there is some discrepancy betwven Papal and Protestant historians, founded upon the different estimates recorded by the
persecutors and their victims; but the integrity of a historical
argument is not affected thereby, inasmuch as the principle of
persecution is intrinsically unjustifiable, whether its victims
be numbered by tens or by thousands.
It is a total perversion of the facts of history to say that
"the executions which took place were in spite of every obstacle which the Church could consistently interpose to prevent
them, or that the Inquisition could not "have saved those
who perished, without openly revolting against the State." —
The Consuls of the town of Narbonne, in a letter written to
the Consuls of Nismes, protested against the rapacity and
robbery of' the Inquisitors, and of the Archbishop, in dispensing with the rules of justice, and taking the property of the
rich, even when they were not guilty of heresy.  They proceeded to give a specimen of the questions of the Inquisitors,
some of which were captious, some frivolous, and others indecent.  " They demanded if the Host, which the Priest consecrated, contains all the body of Jesus Christ. If the victim says it does, the Inquisitor replies, you believe, then, that
when four Priests consecrate each of them a Host, as they
ought to do, each of these Hosts contains the body of Jesus
Christ. If' the accused replies that he believes so, the Inquis



ITS PRINCIPLES.                 23
itor replies, you believe, then, that there are four Gods.Then the person, affrighted, affirms the contrary."
The accused were not permitted to. cross-examine the witnesses. In the articles of the Council of Narbonne, held at
Bessiers, April, 1246, and which, with a few slight modifications, formed the definite standard of Inquisitorial proceedings, we find the following arbitrary regulations:  "Let
none be exempted from prison on account of weakness or
age, or any similar cause. Hesitate not to proceed against
the absent, as if- they were present, if you have not succeeded in arresting them. Take particular care not to publish,
by word or sign, the names of the witnesses. On account
of the enormity of this crime, (heresy) you ought to admit in
proof of' it, the testimony of criminals, of infamous persons,
and of accomplices."
Persons accused, were required to prove their innocence;
a principle which, if applied to the Roman Priesthood of this
country, or to aany other class of men, might result in their conviction, but would cover with disgrace and infamy the tribunal which should adopt it.
The heretics were summoned by name, and informed of
the accusations which had been made against them, and "if
they could not refute the charges, and should persist in the
denial of their guilt, they were to be condemned without
mercy."  Instead of condemning persons who were proved
guilty, and inflicting punishments in proportion to the crimes,
they were required to "come forward within an assigned
period, called the te'm of grace," and inform against themselves and others; and those only who obeyed this unreasonable "mandate, were to be exempted from  Capital punishment, imprisonment for life, banishment, and confiscation of
property."




24                 THE INQUISITION.
The Inquisition was introduced into Italy in 1231, confirmed by the Pope in the Republic of Venice in 12S9,
and in 1542, the Supreme Tribunal of the Inquisition was
founded at Rome-a grand model institution within the Papal
territories —six Cardinals being Commissioners of the Apostolic See, and Universal Inquisitors, with power to appoint
subordinate Courts in such places as they should think proper,
and to determine all appeals from the decisions of the latter.
Cardinal Caraffin, the first named commissioner, said, "As
St. Peter vanquished the first heresiarchs on no other spot
than Rome, so must the successor of' St. Peter overcome all
the heresies of the world in Rome."  "No respect must be
shown to any Prince or Prelate, however high his station. Extraordinary and extreme severity must be used
against such as shall seek to defend themselves, through the
protection of any Potentate."  "We must not debase ourselves to any sort of toleration toward heretics, and more
especially toward Calvinists."
Terror and dismay attended the progress of the Inquisition throughout Italy. The spirit of faction increased the
virulence of persecution, and revenge was gratified by resorting to the charge of heresy. "Sendo quella citta (Ravenna) partialissima, ne virimanendo huomo alcuno non
contaminato di questa macchia della fattioni, si van volontieri dove l'occasion s'offerisce carricando l'un l'altro da
inimici." —Contarini.  "It is hardly possible,"  exclaims
Antonio dei Pegliarici, "to be a Christian, and die in one's
bed."-Ranke.  Academies and theological schools were
broken up. In Sienna and Pisa, the Inquisition made war
upon the Universities; the index of prohibited books was publishedr-books could not be printed or sold "without the permission of the Inquisitors"-the freedom  of the "Customs




ITS PRINCIPLES.                   25
officers of the Dogana" were restricted in the delivery of
packages of MSS. or printed books-the works even of Cardinals, and the poems of della Casa were prohibited-the
order of the Franciscans, the rival of the Dominicans, was
forced to recant-Bishops, Monks, and Priests, suspected of
favoring the doctrines of the Reformation, were the victims of
persecution, and "the Clergy employed the aid of the secular arm."  "Fu rimediato opportunamente dal S Officio in
Rorna con porre in ogni citta valenti e zelanti inquisitori, servendosi anche talhora de secolari zalenti e dotti per ajuto
della fede, come verbi gratia del Godescalco in Como, del
conte Albano in Bergamo del mutio in Milano. Questa risolutione di servirsi de secolari fu presa perche non soli moltissimi
vescovi, vicarii frati e preti, ma anco molti dell'istessa inquisione erano heretici."-CoGmpendium of the Inquisitors —Ranke.
Many persons submitted, multitudes fled to distant countries; those "who would neither give way, nor could escape,
endured the penalty," and "in Rome auto-da-fes were held
in all form before the Church of Santa Maria alla Minerva."
Such were the principles of the Inquisition, as recorded,
on the page of history, and in the records of Ecclesiastical
jurisprudence-an institution which elicits the unqualified approbation of the apologists of the Roman See. It was "a grand
and majestic assumption of power," to which "mankind will
ever owe a debt of gratitude."  "We cannot sufficiently admire the wisdom and mercy with which its laws werefi'amed,
nor the happy issue of their administration."  " The spirit of
the Inquisition was that of the most ingenious mercy which
wisdom  and purity could devise, consistent with the firmness requisite to attain its object."  "The institution of the
Inquisition, by Gregory IX., and his successors, was a glorious instance of what has been constantly witnessed in tfile
history of' the Catholic Church —the interpositionl of the mer4




26                THfE INQUISITION.
cy of God to save from the justice of man."  "The Sovereign PontifFs merit the gratitude of mankind for the establishment of an institution whose wise and merciful administration of the powers delegated to it, averted the most
desolating  calamities from  Christendom."  "It checked
the savage barbarity of State instincts, interposed a barrier between millions of souls and temporal and eternal
destruction, and is the glory and pride of the Catholic Church.
It was planned by the wisest of Popes, sanctioned by the
most devout and merciful of saints-ruled over by the holiest and most disinterested of religious corporations, and
accomplished ends which Pagan Emperors and Christian
KIings had, (luring long centuries, vainly sought to attain.Those who are called its victims, evoked upon it the benedictions of Heaven; and its mild severity emulated the spirit
with which the Apostles had despotically preached one doctrine for the salvation of the human race, from which they
permitted no dissent." —I. M. Ices.
"' Manichmaism was the only heresy which both Church and
State considered undeserving of any indulgence whatever.The tenets of Manichaeism constituted a species of Zoroaster-Buddhism fire-worship, united to Vedaism, on which the
founder had (at a later period) from policy, monstrously engrafted a portion of the external forms, without one single
principle of Christianity."  "Thus Manichceism  menaced
Europe."  "Truly it was no time for States to be imbecile,
or for the Church to be sluggish. Swift action in searching
out and converting or extirpating those more monstrous savages than the devotees of Juggernaut, was urgent and indis[)ensable. If there is on earth an infallible Church, and she
Jloes not come iforward now, let her never dare to raise her voice
in the world Lagain. If' the StaCte cloes not smlite with a keen



ITS VICTIMS.                   27
ly sharpened sword, and the Church hesitates to thunder
forth its anathemas now, they must answer to God and to
mankind for the perdition of the world, and the re-enthrallment of Christendom  in barbarism." —. 1l. Ives. Monstrous sentiments!-involving the persecuting principles of
the Pagan Emperors, and blood-thirsty savages, and fully
recognizing the responsibility of the Papal Hierarchy, in the
establishment and support of' the "Court of Inquiry, denominated the INQUISITION."
The doctrines, or philosophical systems of Zoroaster, Buddhism, and of Vedaism, were matured, and sustained by powerful nations, long before the rise of the Papal power. Are
they to be regarded as heresies in the Romish Church?  The
doctrines of the Oriental Philosophers are to this day embraced by thousands and millions, in Persia, in Burmab, and
in Hindostan. Are they to be devoted to extermination by
fire and sword, by the Cardinals and Pope of Rome-a selfconstituted Ecclesiastical Aristocracy, because they hold doctrines and practice religious rites "for which God might
justly doom a universe to destruction"?  Let the issue be
made, and let the world take warning; for until persecuting
Rome be destroyed, there can be no peace among the nations
of the earth. The claim of Papal infallibility is inconsistent
with the inalienable rights of man, and with the glory of God
in the triumph of the dospel of his Son.
Among the various forms of heresy detected by the Inquisitors, there was scarcely one that escaped the charge of
Manichaeism, a charge frequently invented for the purpose of
justifying violent measures against those whose leading principles had few points of resemblance to the Oriental Philosophy. The persecuted sects were also charged by the Pontiffs, and their agents, with unnatural crimes and various




28                ~THE INQUISITION.
lusts, as "kissing cats and rats, seeing the Devil in the
shape of a toad," desecrating the Sacred Scriptures, and
abandoning themselves to promiscuous fornication; charges
not unlike those made by the persecuting Pagans against the
primitive Christians. It should be remembered by those
who repeat these charges, that such flagrant enormities, perpetrated bfdeluded fanatics, afford no rational ground for
indiscriminate and wholesale calumnies against sects, philosophers, tribes and nations; and if the Albigenses and Waldenses had been addicted to such practices, there would have
been no occasion for their leaving the Pontifical Society,
which practiced and licensed all manner of' dissoluteness
and crimes.
"The' Acts of the Councils' reveal the horrors of the middle ages during the Pontifical supremacy." — Chateaubriand.
" Pope John X[I. was guilty of open Simony, blasphemous
invocation of' Jupiter and Venus, and unrestrained licen-.
tiousness." —Gibbon.  "John XXII., 1320, and succeeding
Pontiffs, published the tax of indulgences, by which incest,
adultery, infanticide, and almost every imaginable crime,"
were licensed.-Hallam.
Sixtus IV. carried NeYotism to the highest pitch; involved all
Italy in a bloody war for the benefit of his nephews-laid
Florence under an interdict, and himself beseiged it.-Muratori —27Iosheim.
The character of Innocent VIII., elected to the Papacy in
1474, is described in the well known epigram:
"Octo nocens pueros genuit totidemque puellas;
Hune merito potuit dicere Roma patrem."
His successor, Alexander VI., (Roderic Borgia) the Nero
of the Pontiffs,:stood before the world a. monster of impurity and vice, in whom Satan produced his master piece of
incasnate depravity.




ITS VICTIMS.                   29
The condition of the Monastic Institutions was the reproach
of the Church.  Gerson, the French orator, so celebrated at
the Council of Constance, called the nunneries, "Prostibula
meretricum." Clemangis, a French theologian, thus speaks
of them: "Quid alind sunt hoc tempore puellarum inonasteria, sed veneris execranda prostibula; ut idem  sit hodie puellam velare, quod, et publici ad scortandum exponere."
The practice of auricular confession "gave consecration
to the communings of impurity," and "it was a habit not
unfrequent to license the Clergy to live in concubinage."Infessura —Ha llam.
It is the opinion of Muratori, Mosheim, and Gibbon, that
the disciples of Manes migrated toward the West, first as
war and commerce prompted, and afterwards in the returning
ranks of the Crusaders, and that they were found scattered
throughout the several States of Europe; but that there was
any historical or philosophical connection between their
tenets and those of the protesting sects of France and Germany, which excited the alarm of the Papal Hierarchy, and
kindled the fires of persecution, we have no sufficient evidence to believe. The public mind seemed to be aroused
from the slumber of ages, and heresies appeared almost simultaneously throughout Europe-protests of intellect against
usurpation and despotism-faint streaks of light in the horizon, ushering in the glorious morning of the Reformation.
Peter Sarnesis, a writer of that age, in a history dedicated
to Innocent III., says that in the broader sense, all the heretics of every sort, who at that time resided in Languedoc,
were called Albigenses, "Tolosani et aliarum  civitatum et
castrorum haeretici, et defensores, eorum generaliter, Albigenses vocantur." He divides the Albigenses into various
sects, and says that the Waldenses were the best among




30                THE INQUISITION.
them.  "Mali erant Valdenses, sed comparatione aliorum haereticorum longe minus perversi." Irl a general sense, all the
French heretics were called Albigenses, or Waldenses, but
regard to historical accuracy will not permit us to embrace
in one class, the various sects of diverse origin, character,
and clime —Manichaeans, Paulicians, Beghards, Turlupins,
Albigenses, and Waldenses, which arose in the bosom of the
Roman Church, almost simultane-ously; but whose only point
of resemblance was opposition to the Papacy.  The coincidence of sentiment among different classes of people, on
questions pertaining to civil and religious liberty, is no good
reason for denouncing ithem  "indiscriminately,"''as "Manichmean sects."
Bossuet, in his "Variations," has failed to prove that the
Albigenses were  anicnaeans, or even that they held Manichean doctrines. Indeed, we search in vain in their history,
for the very essence of Manice.ism, i. e., a twofold standing,
the esoteric and the exoterzc-that of the elect and that of the
anditors —Neander.
According to Guizot, there was a biolidical element in the
complex causes of this cruel persecution. ATany of the feudal nobles, and some of the Clergy, had allied themselves
with the citizens, in promoting the cause of popular freedom.
" The towns of Provence, of Languedoc, and of Acquitaine,
made a political effort, and formed themselves into free Republics. A war broke out between feudal France and municipal France.  The history of the Crusade against the Albigenses, commanded by Simon de Montfort, was the struggle
of the feudalism of the North, against the attempt at democratic organization of the South. Notwithstanding the efforts
of Southern patriotism, the North gained the day; political
unity was wanting in the South, and civilization was not yet
sufficiently advanced there to enable men to bring it about. —




ITs  VICTIMIS.                  31
This attempt at Republican organization was put down, and
the Crusade re-established the feudal system in the south of
France."  Romae -was the patron of oppression.  The Albigenses, living at too early a -pleriod, were driven from the
cultivated fields and beautiful villages-tL-heir cities were ruined, their commerce destroyed-the progress of civilization
arrested, and thle country devoted to carnage and desolation
by the minions of' Papal and Feudal despotism.
The Waldenses became very numerous throughout the
south of France.  Their religion was that of the Bible.Though charged by their adversaries with monstrous doctrines and iminoral practices, it is evident, from the general
tenor of history, and from their own traditional creed, from
their published writings, and especially firom the admis.sions
of their enemnis, that their moral character was good-that
their religion was Scriptural, and that their greatest crimes
consisted in denying the supremacy of' the Pope, and in protesting against tahe corruptions of the Church.
The historians of those times admit the piety and blamreless lives of the Waldenses.-Codex Inqpizitolis  aaosanV. —
Peter Waldus himself did not renounce the Romish Church.
In 1179, he sent a copy of his trans!ation of the Bible,
with notes and expositions, to Rome, and requested permission to preach and instruct the people in religion, wvhich
was refused by Alexander III. A similar but unsuccessful
application was made under Lucius III., by whom the Waldenses were excomnunicated in 1184. —Fuessle-Harduin's
Concilia- s31bslweim.
The Vadois ciaimed to have preserved the faith and
practice of the Apostolic~ age, and a Dom linican, Reiner
Sacho, a persecutor of their communion, described them as
a, most dangerous sect, because "it is the most ancient, sonie




32                THE INQUISITION.
say as old as Sylvester, others as the Apostles themselves,
and because, while other sects are profane and blasphemous,
this retains the utmost show of' piety. They live justly before men, and believe nothing respecting God which is not
good, only they blaspheme against the Roman Church and
the Clergy, and thus gain many followers." He testifies,
also, that they taught their disciples to shun slanders and
oaths-that they translated the Old and New Testaments into
the vulgar tongues, and spoke and taught according to them —
that he heard an unlearned rustic, who recited the Book of Job,
word by word-that he knew many who perfectly knew the
New Testament, and that in Lombardy, Provence, and other
kingdoms and nations, there were more schools of heretics
than of theologians, and more auditors.
Pierre d'Ailly, in a discourse composed at the Council of'
Constance, alleged, as their principal errors, "that they refused temporalities to the Priesthood, and asserted that the
Church of God only lasted till the endowment by Constantine. Then arose the Church of Rome —the other being
extinct, except as far as it was perpetuated in themselves."
Their form of government was Republican, the Consuls
being elected by the people, and their Government enjoyed a
rank nearly equal to that of the Italian Republics. Their
doctrines were Protestant, their morals pure, and their piety
fervent. They condemned the vices of the Ecclesiastics.A common maxim among them was, "I would rather be a
Priest than do such a thing." They denied the real presence.
"If the body of Christ were as large as our mountains, it
must have been destroyed by those whom they pretend to
have eaten it."
The Bull of Innocent VIII. against the Waldenses, was
issued 1487, giving to Albert de Capitancis authority to carry




ITS VICTIMS.                   33
it into execution, to extirpate the sect-to crush the heretics,
like venomous asps —and granting plenary indulgences to all
who should take up arms against them.
Thousands of persons perished-entire districts of country were depopulated.
Thuanus, the Romish historian, gives a circumstantial account of the persecution of the Waldenses in 1545. Treaties
and terms of capitulation were violated-women and children were dragged from a Church in which they had sought
refuge, thrust into a barn filled with straw, and burned.
In 1560, they were persecuted again by direction of Pius
IV.; multitudes of unresisting peasants were murderedmany were put to the torture to extract from them a confession. In the following century, (1655 —1685) they were again
subjected to the fury of Papal and Royal persecution, which
excited the indignation and remonstrance of the Protestant
States of Europe, and secured the powerful interposition and
protection of England under Cromwell and William 111.
Since that period, they have enjoyed comparatively a season of rest, and are still found in their native valleys,
living witnesses of' the same truths for which their fathers
perished.
The Platonizing Philosophers of the fifteenth century, who
inculcated in the Italian Universities the impious tenets of'
Pantheism, subversive of "the foundations of all religion,
both natural and revealed, when pressed by the Inquisitors,
craftily discriminated between philosophical truth, and theological; and said their doctrines were only philosophically
true —that is, accordant with sound reason; but they would
not deny, that when viewed theologically, they ought to be
accounted false."
The persecutions of the Roman Church were not confined




34               THE INQUISITION.
to the profession of religious and political opinions, adverse
to the claims of the Papacy. The incomparable Philosopher, Galileo, was summoned before the Inquisition, in 1616,
for the heresy of having demonstrated the truth of the Copernican system of astronomy, that the Earth revolves around
the Sun. The old man, wearied by long imprisonment, and
enfeebled by age, knowing that any justification or explanation of the doctrine would be fruitless, submitted to the demands of the Inquisitors, and retracted (nominally) the 1"accursed heresy of the Earth's motion." His book was censured and prohibited.
La Seur and Jacquese, two eminent Mathematicians, who
published Newton's Principia, used the following language
in their preface, for the purpose of escaping the fate of Galileo. "Newton assumes in his first book the hypothesis
of the Earth's motion. The propositions of that author
could not be explained except through the same hypotnesis.
We have, therefore, been forced to act a character not our
own. But we declare our submission to the decrees of the
Roman Pontiffs against the motion of the Earth."  Thus,
in 1742, learned men trembled to announce an important
philosophical truth, lest they should be overwhelmed by the
anathemas of an ignorant clergy.
Persons were esteemed guilty of heresy if they misused
the Sacrament —treated the images disrespectfully-possessed or read prohibited books-attended the preaching of
heretics, or neglected to appear before the Inquisition when
summoned. No innocent person could escape destruction, if
marked by the Inquisitors, for the familiars acted as a secret
police, and when the victims were captured, it was dangerous
for any one to inquire after them, or to intercede fbr them.The innocent perished with the guilty, the Catholics with the




ITS VICTIMS.                  35
Protestants. Better, said the Inquisitors, "that a hundred
innocent persons, who are good Catholics,rshould be cut off,
and go to Paradise, than to let one heretic escape, who might
poison many souls, and plunge them in endless perdition."Bossuet-MI1osheim.
Even death did not shield the victims from vengeance,
for deceased heretics were often burnt in effigy, and by the
decree of the third Lateran Council, 1179 —of the fourth Lateran Council, 1215-of the Council of Constance, 1418-of
the Papal Bull of Gregory IX., 1227-and of Martin V., 1422,
heretics were excluded from Christian burial, as persons excommunicated, and without the pale of the Church.
By the decree of the celebrated Council of Constance, the
body of Wickliff was exhumed; John Huss was condemned
and burned, notwithstanding the safe conduct of the Emperor Sigismund, and his ashes were collected and thrown into
the Lake of Constance.
During the short Pontificate of Paul IV., (1555-59) the
Inquisition alone destroyed one hundred and fifty thousand.
Verogerius. When the Pope died, the populace of Rome
broke open the doors of the Inquisition, "and released seventeen hundred prisoners, and then set fire to the building." —
Bower's Hisi.tory of the Popes.
It is estimated that one hundred and thirty thousand persons were destroyed by the Inquisition in thirty years from its
establishment-that in the Crusades against the Albigenses
and Waldenses, not less than one million perished, and that
in the several persecutions of Protestants by Romanists,
more than fifty millions have been put to death, and millions
more have been driven into exile, or consigned to loathesome dungeons.




36                THE INQUISITION.
Such were the chastisements of the Roman Catholic
Church, inflicted for mercy's sake, to save the offender-the
"barrier interposed (by the Bishop of Rome) between millions
of souls and temporal and eternal destruction." If such are
the acts of mercy of His Holiness, the Pope, what must be
his conceptions of justice?
The narratives that have been recorded about "rackings and
tortures" are unquestionably true, and are scarcely susceptible
of being exaggerated; for they were recorded by the historians
of the times, Catholic and Protestant —and the most severe
penalties were prescribed by the rules of the Inquisition. It
is a poor excuse for the crimes and cruelties of an "infallible
Church," in its merciless administration of discipline, to allege that the "application of torture was limited," or that
"'the Inquisition was more merciful in its use than any other
tribunal of the age."
The Inquisitor General of Goa, India, admitted to Dr.
Claudus Buchanan, that Dr. Dillon's description of the dungeons, the torture, the mode of trial, and the auto-da-fe, was
generally correct, but said that the writer judged untruly of
the motives of the Inquisitors. His principal argument to
prove the amelioration of the Institution, was "the superior
humanity of the Inquisitors," to which Dr. Buchanan very
justly replied, "that they must pronounce sentence according
to the laws of the Inquisition, and that a lapsed heretic must
be burned in the flames, or confined in a dungeon, whether
the Inquisitors be humane or not."
A careful comparison of the Official Code of the Inquisition with the Roman Law, will show that the former, applying the torture to the accused, the condemned, slaves, free
citizens and nobles, and even to children from the age of nine
years, was more cruel in its use than the latter.-Santo
UJfizio, Beccaria, Montesquieu.




ITS RESULTS.                  37
The Atheneans, Romans, Indians, and almost all Pagan
nations, "regarded torture as allowable" in the treatment of
criminals and enemies, but the custom has become obsolete
among civilized nations, and is the object of reprobation by
every respectable writer on Criminal Jurisprudence. It remains for the apologists of a Hierarchy containing in its decretals and canon law the persecuting principles of Paganism, to eulogize the "mild severity" of an Institution which,
originated and sustained by infallible authority, must necessarily be infallibly correct in its principles and practice! To
repent or to reform, wrould be a departure from "infallible
teachings," a deviation from an "infallible standard," and rebellion agpainst "infallible authority!"
Papal Rome is essentially a persecuting power. Its very
existence, as a, professed "Universal, infallible authority," is
a protest against the right of private judgment.
The real question at issue, in discussing the subject of the
Inquisition, is the right of persecution for Conscience' sake.
This the Romanist affirms, and the Protestant denies. This
principle has been sanctioned by Provincial Synods, General
Councils, and Popes, and constitutes an integral part of Romanism as now administered. The Inquisition was established to enforce submission to the Pope throughout the
-world. It was recognized and approved by the. Council of
Trent. (1545 —1563) People and princes were urged to extirpate heresy as they would escape Divine vengeance, and indulgences and absolution were granted to such as would take
up arms against the heretics. In support of this principle,
Cardinal Bellarmine, a standard Roman author, says: "The
Church may excommunicate, but excommunication is greater
than death.  Therefore, the Church may put to death.



38                 THE INQUISITION.
Forgery deserves death; but heretics are guilty of forgery of
the word of God. Therefore, heretics should be put to
death. A breach of faith with God is greater than that of a
wife with her husband; but a woman's unfaithfulness is punished with death;-why not a Christian's? It is a benefit to
heretics, for the longer they live, the more errors they invent,
the more persons they mislead, and the greater damnation do
they treasure up to themselves."
The Demon of Persecution, destroyed for a season when
the house of the Caesars fell into ruins, entered afresh into the
the Halls of the Vatican, and the horrors of the Inquisition
were the legitimate results.
The Priest and Friar, athirst for blood, rushed upon men,
women, and children, like beasts of prey springing upon human victims in the Roman Amphitheatre; and having tortured, imprisoned and condemned them, the holy(?) Inquisitors, abhorring to soil their own hands with blood, delivered
them to the civil power, to discharge the last offices of mercy!  "The Inquisition never passed sentence of death, or
imposed any retaliatory infliction upon offenders."-I —L M.
Ives. The holy arrogance of the soul covers all guilt.There is no wrong in murder, and no sin in the long, black
catalogue of inhuman outrages, because the perpetrators,
clothed with infallible authority, and absolved by the Vicegerent of Christ, are almost demi-gods in goodness. Thus
the spiritual despot and persecutor, an outlaw from humanity
-the offspring of Infernals-his hands sodden in bloodchallenges to himself praise as the champion of the Church
and as the friend of God.
The records of the Inquisition prove that its principles
were unjust, and its administration cruel and oppressive; yet




ITS RESULTS.                  39
at Rome, in the very centre of Catholicity, it was cherished
and sustained by the pretended Vicars of Christ, long after it
had been suppressed by every free government throughout
the world. And even at the present day, Bishops and Priests
obtain an unenviable notoriety by defending its persecuting
policy; while Mohammedans and Pagans, in deference to the
spirit of the age, are abandoning it as a relic of barbarism.
As a measure of State policy, persecution is unjustifiable
and disastrous. From the days of Peter de Bruis, to those of
Luther, there subsisted various bodies of Reformers, at open or
secret variance with the Papacy. The Albigenses were not
entirely destroyed by the Crusades of Innocent III., and the Inquisition of Toulouse. The Waldenses were preserved
through four centuries of oppression. The ashes of Wickliff were not lost in their descent into the ocean, and the spirit
which arose from the funeral ashes of Huss, survived to expand in the bosoms of his countrymen, The disperson of
the believers spread abroad the germs of the Reformation.
The fires of persecution scattered the sparks throughout all
Europe, by which the torch of reason was again rekindled,
and for more than two centuries, the growth of heresy more
than kept pace with the violence of persecution.
The boasted unity of the Roman Church is a mere illusion, resulting from an imperfect examination of the facts of
history. No Society presents to our view so many agitations,
disputes and divisions. The national Churches and the European States have often been arrayed against the Roman
Court —Councils have opposed the Popes-heresies have
arisen in the bosom of the Church, and schisms have rent
the Ecclesiastical system in almost every country in Europe.
The Albigenses, the Waldenses, the martyrs of Bohemia and
Flanders, Wickliff and his co-laborers, the Prcagmatic Sanc



40                 THE INQUISITION.
tion of Charles VII., of France, in 1438, limiting the power
of the Pope, and securing the comparative independence of
the French Church, "conformably to the Canons of the Council of Basle,'" the popular reaction against the centralization
of Rome, the progress of free enquiry, and tile glorious Reformation, all tended to defeat the "attempt at Theocratic
organization." The Roman Hierarchy, no longer able to
"force her system upon Europe," was constrained, in order to
"keep what she possessed," to abandon the aggressive policy
of ages, and to submit to terms of peace with the Protestant States.
It is a general principle, sustained by many examples in
ancient history, that the avarice, despotism and dissoluteness of the Clergy, and the extravagances of a Monkish
ascetism, developed a spirit of religious inquiry-occasioned
general discontent and rebellion-gave birth to new heresies
-called forth almost innumerable protests-multiplied new
sects with a profusion that baffled all attempts to repress
them, and afforded an important vantage ground for successful opposition to the policy and measures of the dominant
Papal party, throughout Europe.
Religious persecution is the harbinger of civil wars,
alarming commotions, and awful calamities. It raises up the
very Hydra it was meant to destroy; and tranquillity cannot
be restored until Liberty is crushed, or the power of the Oppressor is broken.
Diversity of opinion on religious and political subjects, is
not practically attended with danger to the State, or to the
stability of social institutions. If "Protestantismn" leads to
"civil discord," it is because the exclusiveness of Romanism
prevents harmony and peace. Protestants are constrained
to act on the defensive, when they know that they are anathe



ITS RESULTS.                    41
matized, devoted to extermination, and given over to the secular powers to be destroyed. This preposterous claim of the
Papal Hierarchy, to lord it over God's heritage, justly entitles
it to the appellation Anti-Christ, for it is the enemy of GOD
and MAN!
Approving unjust principles-devising and executing despotic measures, and tolerating horrid cruelties in the administration of Ecclesiastical discipline, it is not to be regarded as
the "One Holy Catholic Church," but as an ambitious, schismatical, despotic and persecuting Sect; which, by its enormous wrongs, has forfeited all claim to the favor of God
and the regard of man.
The law of Christ is, "love your enemies, bless and curse
not," but the famous Council of Trent closed with a bitter
curse upon its lips, solemnly repeated in full chorus:"Anathema cunctis Hlereticis,
Anathema!-AN-ATHEMA!!"
Hatred rises to abhorrence, wrath swells to execration,
and evil wishes vent themselves in curses. This surely cannot be regarded as the spirit of Christ. If persecution is
contrary to natural justice and the genius of Christianity,
then the Papal Church has been so abandoned of God, as to
legitimate the foulest of crimes, substituting murder for sacrifice, and betraying an entire disregard of the precepts and
spirit of religion. What false doctrines, what idolatrous
rites, what prayers to the Saints and to the Virgin, what impious curses upon enemies, what rivers of blood have flowed,
what thousands of martyrs have perished at the stake!"The snows of mountains have gleamed with the conflagration of burning dwellings, and rocks amid the midnight
darkness have echoed back the screams of agony!"
The Papal Church preserves the form of Godliness, but
denies its power.  An Ecclesiastico-political establishment, it
6




42                TH1E INQUISITION.
employs religious terms, as the pretext of an inordinate pursuit of secular objects. It combines in itself nearly all the
corruptions and heresies of all past ages, and just in proportion to its progress, Religion declines, and Infidelity and
vice prevail.
The historyof the Papacy in Ireland, Mexico, Spain, France
and Italy, presents the sad spectacle of Religion "lying in
state," surrounded with the silent pomp of death. In the
words of Michiavelli, one of the most profound geniuses of
Italy, and a Catholic, "the nearer we approach the Capital of
Christendom, the less do we find of the Christian spirit among
the people. The scandalous example and crimes of the
Court of Rome have caused Italy to lose every principle of
piety, and every religious sentiment." "The Italians are
principally indebted to the Church and to the Priests for
having become impious and profane."
The spirit of persecution depraved the character and perverted the moral feelings of the people. Zeal became ferocity, piety degenerated into madness, and a baptism of blood
was demanded to save "the elect of God."  The worst passions of the heart were inflamed; and while the best men
and most faithful citizens were dragged to the prison, and
consigned to the flames, the persecutors mingled their songs
of triumph with the groans of their victims. Plenary indulgence and absolution were granted to persecutors-warlike
crusades were consecrated, for the extirpation of heretical
sects-the Tariff of Indulgences was perfected and published, and the most flagrant enormities were authorized by
Canon Law; the only unpardonable offense being that of
opposition to the corruption and tyranny of the Court of
Rome.
We have in this City, in our Protestant Churches, and




ITS RESULTS.                   43
among Philosophical Sects, the very same opinions and creeds
against which persecution was directed, and for the extirpation of which the fires of the Inquisition were kindled. If the
liberty of thought and of speech has been rightfully restrained
by an "infallible authority," it cannot be indulged without rebellion, nor tolerated without sin; and Pope Pius IX. may
most devoutly pray for the return of the good old times, when
Kings and Princes considered it the highest honor to be the
jailors and executioners of the Sovereign Pontiffs; enforcing
their "infallible decrees," by fines, imprisonment, tortures,
exile, and burnings! annulling laws, repealing charters, violating Constitutions and treaties, and devastating provinces,
in accordance with the commands of the Roman See!
History has recorded the spirit and the acts of the Inquisition. The acts remain, memorials of past generations,
and warnings to the present and future. The spirit, it is to
be hoped, will no longer find a home on earth.
True religion is a spirit of love —a faith of reason-a life
of beneficence and self-denial; answering to the character of
Him who, by his descent from Heaven, and death upon the
Cross, brought life and immortality to light, and proclaimed
peace on earth and good will to men.








LECTURE II.
THE INQUISITION.
The race of' Israel having for nearly six hundred years enjoyed almost uninterrupted prosperity in Spain, had in the fif'
teenth century become a wealthy, learned and powerful people. Schools and Colleges were in a flourishing condition,
commerce was prosperous, and the Jews were to a great extent the bankers of the Provinces. They were highly esteemed as Philosophers, Mathematicians, Ministers of Finance, and teachers of Science, Medicine and Literature.It was the golden age of modern Hebrew Literature. An
outcry being raised against them by Alonzo de Ojeda, Prior
of the Monastery of St. Paul, in Seville, Diego de Merlo,
and Nicoli Franco, Papal Nuncio resident at the Court
of Seville, the Sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, after
repeated importunities by the Clergy, were induced, by
political and religious considerations, to solicit of the Pope
a bull for the re-establishment of the Inquisition, which was
granted by Sixtus IV., Nov. 1, 1478, thus introducing into
the Peninsula, the field of its most destructive ravages, the
modern SPANIsH INQUISITION, which so rapidly extended its
iron sway over Spain and Portugal. Ferdinand was governed, doubtless to a great extent, by political considerations;
but the biographers of Isabella endeavor to throw a veil over
this blemish ulpon her noble character, by attributing her ac



46                THE INQUISITION.
quiescence in the stern measures resolved upon, to her conscientious scruples, and the subtle influence of her religious
advisers.
In 1481, the tribunal was organized, and the work of persecution was commenced. The profession or the practice of
Judaism was treated as a penal offense. The sword of justice (?) was directed especially against the influential and
wealthy, and in a few months, several hundred persons perished in the flames.
In 1483, the Pope encouraged the Sovereigns to proceed
in the "work of purification" by a reference to the example
of Jesus Christ, who, he said, consolidated his kingdom on
earth by destroying idolatry.
In the same year, the Pope issued two briefs, by which
Thomas de Torquemada was appointed Inquisitor General
of Castile and Arragon, with full power to form a Constitution and regulations for the holy office, to appoint all inferior
Inquisitors, to preside over all the Ecclesiastical tribunals
inthe Kingdom, and to organize and establish the Institution
upon a permanent basis. The Cortes of Arragon remonstrated in 1484 against the introduction of the Inquisition, and
sent a deputation to Rome, and also to Ferdinand, but in vain;
for Church and State had combined in a crusade against the
liberties of the people. Torquemada assumed the insignia
of an officer of State, and in his progress through the Kingdom, was protected by a military escort. In 1490 he-made
an auto-da-fe of Hebrew Bibles and Literature, and sit
thousand volumes are said to have perished in the-flames at
Salamanca.
The spirit of hfaaticism  prompted the'mot':rvl1tifig
crimes, and-laid waste the fairest provinces of the Kingdom;
for the support of -thb Inquisition was;'attehdebd'with havyt




ITS RAVAGES IN SPAIN.               47
expenditures, and multitudes of the most industrious and
valuable subjects were murdered, imprisoned, or driven into
exile. In Toledo, between three and four thousand persons
were imprisoned in a little more than a year. In the single
province of Andalusia, there were from three to five thousand
deserted houses.
The war against the Moors was prosecuted on religious
grounds. The Sovereigns constantly appealed to the deeply
seated religious principles of' the Spanish people. Ecclesiastics of the highest rank mingled in the Councils of the
Camp, appeared at the head of the army, and led the
squadrons to the field, while Ferdinand prepared to prosecute his claim against France.
While detained before Grenada, Ferdinand and Isabella
published their memorable and odious decree against the
Jews. The Inquisitors, intent on the extirpation of heresy,
insisted that the entire race should be destroyed, and by the
urgent solicitation of the Cardinal of Spain secured the reluctant assent of the Sovereigns to their banishment. A
single fact may serve to show the agency of the Ecclesiastics in securing the adoption of this barbarous measure.  The Jews had commenced a negotiation with the
Sovereigns, proposing to pay thirty thousand ducats for the?
expenses of the Moorish war. The negotiation was interrupted by Torquemada, who burst into the audience room,
"and drawing forth a crucifix from beneath his mantle, held
it up, exclaiming,'Judas Iscariot sold his master for thirty
pieces of silver. Your Highnesses would sell him aonew for
thirty thousand; here he is, take him and barter him away.'
So saying, he threw the crucifix on the table, and left the
apartment."-Prescott.  "Overawed by a scene so emphatic," the Sovereigns signed the cruel and impolitic decrees




48                 THE INQUISITION.
March 30, 1492, requiring all unbaptized Jews, irrespective
of age or sex, to leave the Kingdom  within four months,
and forbidding their return upon any pretext, under penalty
of death and confiscation of property, and making it a penal
offense for any one to harbor, succor, or minister to their necessities, after the time appointed for their departure. Isabella's consent to so cruel an edict, so much at variance-with
her amiable disposition, is to be attributed to the influence
of her spiritual advisers, in overcoming her own judgment;
her religious convictions and prejudices being made by them
the occasion of her political errors. It was the triumph of religious fanaticism over political expediency. " Spanish historians, without exception, celebrate it as a sacrifice of temporal interest to religious principle."-Prescott. "Neither
the severity of Ferdinand nor the zeal of the Grand Inquisitor, can be said to have been misplaced."-L. 2i1. Ives. Father Abarca remarks that "King Ferdinand was a politic
Christian, making the interests of Church and State mutually
subservient to each other.
Those of the Jews who preferred baptism  to expulsion,
were enrolled as members of the Church, to the great joy of
the Pope and Cardinals, converts of Apostolic zeal and labor;
but the great majority of them went forth as exiles from their
native land-the home of their fathers for centuries-traveling into Portugal, Italy, France, England, and the Barbary
States, suffering incredible hardships, and perishing, as victims of a merciless religious persecution. Entire districts of
country were converted into a wilderness, and the Kingdom
was impoverished by the loss of its most industrious, enterprising and wealthy inhabitants.  The number of the exiles
could not be precisely ascertained, and has been variously
estimated by historians-but whether we call it one hundred




ITS RAVAGES IN SPATIN.               49
thousand, with Ferreras, or eight hundred thousand, with Mariana and Llorente, does not affect the question as to the enormity of the act by which a whole nation of people were
required to abjure their religion or to abandon their country.
For such a gigantic wrong, committed by an "infallible
Church," through the instrumentality of its Grand Inquisitor,
and the Catholic Sovereigns of Castile and Arragon, it is no
apology to say that "Phillip of Hesse, John George II. of
Brandenburg, and Frederic the Great," tyrants petty and
great, have committed similar outrages, though on a smaller
scale, excluding thlem from  their dominions, under the most oppressive conditions, giving them "no other option than conversion or exile."
Torquemada, whose name has obtained an infamous immortality, presided in the Court of the Inquisition sixteen
years —"a Court in which justice never remained an hour,
in which mercy never spoke."  He had been, in former years,
Confessor to Isabella, and had urged her, or as some historians say, extorted from her a promise, should she ever come
for the throne, to devote herself to the extirpation of heresy,
to the glory of God and the exaltation of the Catholic Church.
Zurita, Prescott.  This accounts for the almost unbounded
influence of that Ecclesiastical fanatic in the Councils of the
Queen.
The persecution was waged in the name of the Churbch,
and for religion. The inscription on the portal of the edifice
in which the tribunal was erected, in Seville, was "Exurge
Dominu.s', judica causam tuam, capita nobis vulpes."  During
his administration, "about 2,000 persons perished in the
flames."-L I1. Ices. Llorente, the ex-Inquisitor, secretary
of the tribunal of Madrid from _1790 to 1792, who, after its
suppression in 1808, devoted several vears to anl examination
7




B50               THE INQqUISITION.
of the registers of the tribunals, and brought to light many
original documents from the archives of the Institution, says
that 8,000 were burned, and 96,000 otherwise perished.Zurita says that by 1520, 4,000 were burned, and 30,000 otherwise perished. —Prescott.  Truly, as M. de Maistre, the
principal writer of the neo-Catholic reaction, observes, "a
desperate remedy was required for so desperate an evil;
the adoption  of means alike violent and energetic."He "consecrates the Priesthood of the Execution, which he
calls the bond of Human Association."  " The whole earth,
which is but an immense altar, continually saturated with blood
the Scqi'old, which is but an altar."  "Bloody words," worthy
of the worship of the God Siva, or  Ioloch, or Juggernautbut strictly illustrative of the spirit and legislation of the Inquisition, under the control of the Papal despotism. "Those
who are called its victims, evoked upon it the benedictions of
Heaven, and its mild severity emulated that with which
the Apostles had despotically preached one doctrine for the salvation of the human race, from which they permitted no dissent."-I. AL. ices.
It was a most humiliating triumph of fanaticism  over the
instincts of humanity and the principles of Religion, enjoining and consecrating the most revolting crimes, and the most
diabolical persecutions in the name of Christianity. The
odium excited against Torquemada was such that he was
constrained to send an agent to defend his cause against the
accusations preferred against him before the Sovereign Pont;iff; yet he was not even removed from office, nor arraigned
for trial; but four coadjutors were appointed to share with
him the burdens of the administration, out of pretended regard to the infirmities of his age.
This pre-eminently bad man, who consigned to the flames,
according to the lowest estimate, between two and three vic



CONQUEST OF GRENADA.                  51
tims a week, on an average, during the whole period of his
administration, was permitted to die peaceably in his bed,
full of years and full of honors, the consecrated agent of the
Papacy for the purification of the dominions of Ferdinand
and Isabella from the heresy of Judaism. In studying his
history, and that of his successors in the "Holy Office," we
are tempted to inquire whether a license had not been granted
to infernal malignants to usurp human forms, to invade earth
with the practices of hell; or whether the world had not suffered a demoniacal possession, in the persons of the Inquisitors!
The fall of Granada, 1492, was celebrated at Rome by a
procession of the Pope and Cardinals, when High Mass was
celebrated amid popular rejoicings and triumphs; for the
"Star of Islam," vhich "lhad shone in full brightness" upon
the Peninsula, now suddenly "descended amid clouds and
tempests, to the horizon."'
According to the terms of the capitulation, the Moors were
"guarantied the free exercise of their religion, with its peculiar rites and ceremonies," the "privilege of being judged by
their own laws, under their own Magistrates, and being unmolested in their ancient usages, manners, language, and
dress," subject only to the general control of the Castilian
government.
The conduct and character of the Mfoors compares favorably with those of their Christian persecutors. An Ecclesiastic was accustomed to say that "Mioorish works and Spanish
faith, would make a good Christian.  The influence of the
Saracenic literature and civilization upon Europe is acknowledged by Guizot, though scarcely alluded to by Schlegel.-.Hallam states 6nly a few points illustrative of the influence
of the Arabs on the progress of Literature.




52                 THE INQUISITION.
The great Waterloo battle of the eighth century, fought by
Charles Martel, between Tours and Poictiers, a battle of seven
days, dissipated forever the Saracenic dreams of universa.lempire. The armed propagandists of the Koran, who had burned
the library of Alexandria, and ruled by the sword; checked in
their career of conquest, directed their energies to philosophical
and literary pursuits, anid poured uponbenighted Europe a flood
of light. The germs of Grecian Philosophy and Science were
transplanted into an Arabic soil, and flourished in the beautiful and finished language of the Arabians, during the long,
dark night in which the provincial languages, which succeeded the Latin, were in a state of formation.  The Abassides
led the way in this great literary campaign. Bagdad was
the centre, but Bassora, Cufa, Ispahan, and Samarcand,
were equally the homes of Science. The impetus was felt
throughout the Saracen empire. In all parts, in every town,
Schools, Academies and Colleges were established, from
which many learned men proceeded. "Then such was
Arabia, the nurse of letters, when even Greece grew languid,
the mistress of Asia, of Africa, and of E urope."- Casiri.-4 The Saracenic literature was greatly superior to any thing
to be found at the same time in the Christian world." —Berrington. The Arabians were at one time "the commercial
people of the world."  The riches of India flowed through
the channel of Arabian commerce, "till the discovery of the
Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese.-Ediniburgh Encyelopedia. " The compass was known to the Arabians in the
eleventh century. — Sisrnondi. They taught Algebra, Medicine, Philosophy, and the higher Mathematics, in their
schools, and "may be considered in some measure the restorers of learning in Europe." — iosheirz.
The illustrious Ommiades, of Spain, stimulated the literary development; the progress of letters followed that of




ARABIAN CIVILIZATION.                53
arms, and for six centuries the elements of a high civilization
existed there in brilliant combination. Agriculture and the
Arts, poetry, history, and philosphy, were assiduously and
successfully cultivated.  Libraries, Colleges, and Astronomical Observatories were founded, and students of Science,
Medicine and Philosophy, from all parts of Europe, resorted
to the Arabian schools of Cordova, Grenada, and Seville;"In the various cities of Spain, seventy libraries were opened
for the instruction of the public, at the period when all the
rest of Europe, without books, without learning, and without
cultivation, was plunged in most disgraceful ignorance."Sismondi.  Alhakim II. collected in the libraries of his palace,
according to the Arabian historians, 600,000 volumes."Eighty-five schools were opened in Cordova.  The circle
of letters and science was publicly expounded by Professors,
whose wisdom  attracted not only the scholars of Christian
Spain, but of France, Italy, Germany, and the British Isles;
for this period of brilliant illumination with the Saracens, corresponds precisely with that of the deepest barbarism  of
Europe."- Prescoltt.  Abdelrahman!I. respected the rights
of his Christian subjects, and sought, bya a beneficent policy,
to attach them to his kingdom.-Sizsmondi.  "The Saracens
of Spain were tolerant to the Christians, so long as they demeaned themselves as quiet and peaceable citizens, and allowed them the free exercise of their religion." —Moskheimn.Gerbert, a great and exalted genius, the most scientific man
of the Latin Church, subsequently Pope Sylvester II.-John
Scotus-the-celebrated Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury,
the father of scholastic metaphysics-Alexander of HalesBenaventura, and Thomas Aquinas, were all diligent students
of the -works of the Arabian Philosophers.- Gieseler, Tenneman, Sismondi, Mosheiin, Hallam.
For several years after the conquest of Grenada, the Arch



54                THE INQUISITION.
bishop Talavera labored to secure the conversion of the Moors
by peaceful measures, having translated the Liturgy into the
Arabic language, and devised various means for the instruction of the people in the doctrines of the Catholic faith.
The progress of proselytism was not sufficiently rapid to
satisfy the most zealous portion of the Clergy, who insisted
that the Moors might be required to submit to baptism, or sell
their estates and remove to Africa; which, said they, could
scarcely. be regarded as a violation of the treaty, since the
Moors would be so great gainers on the score of their eternal
salvation. These considerations, says a devout Spaniard,'just and holy as they were, failed to convince the Sovereigns,"
who resolved to abide by their word; and until 1499, they
faithfully observed the conditions of the treaty."
Ximines, Archbishop of Toledo, having become associated with Talavera, urged the adoption of more stringent
measures. He maintained that the "unbeliever, if he could
not be drawn, should be driven in the way of salvation," and
assured the Sovereigns that it would be an act of clemency
to offer pardon on the alternative of conversion or exile.
The most rigorous measures were adopted, and while multitudes sold their estates and removed to Africa,, the number
of converts was estimated at between 50 and 70,000. The
Mosques were converted into Churches, and the banner of the
Cross waved over the cities and plains of Grenada.
The traditional and religious prejudices of the Moors were
aroused by these most arbitrary and violent measures. The
children of apostate Moors were taken from their parents
and educated in the Catholic faith. The Arabian Literature, consisting of the Koran, and a great number of religious, scientific and political works, the collected treasures of
centuries, were publicly burned.




EXPULSION OPF THFE MOORS.           55
The Sovereigns having been convinced by the arguments
of the Archbishop, and of Deza, the Grand Inquisitor, that
the Mohammedans might be, lawfully compelled to become
Christians, notwithstanding the treaty securing to them the
free exercise of their religion, resolved to adopt this cruel
policy. The decree offering them the alternative of baptism
or exile was promulgated Feb. 12, 1502, requiring all unbaptized Moors over 14 years of age, to leave the country within
two months and a half, and enforcing obedience by the penalties of "death and confiscation of property."
Those who remained, having nominally embraced Christianity, were called Mlorescoes-the victims of persecution,
because the soundness of their conversion was suspected;
delivered over to the torture of the Inquisition by Charles
V., and after a long century of persecution and unmitigated
suffering, expelled from the Peninsula under Phillip II.
The Barons of Spain, to shield the oppressed Moors,
caused a clause to be inserted in the King's coronation oath,
"that he would on no pretence whatever expel the Moors, nor
force them to be baptized —that he would not desire to be
dispensed with, as to that oath, nor accept of any dispensation, and if he ever did, all that he should then do, should
be ipsofiacto, null and void."
Notwithstanding this, the Pope commanded him "forthwith to proceed against the Moors, compelling them to become Christians, or driving them  into exile," and to absolve him  from  his oath, he said,-" We release your
Majesty from the obligation of the oath taken by you, fiom
the estates of the Kingdom never to expel these infidels,
absolving you from  all the censures and penalties of
the guilt of perjury, and dispensing with you as to that
promise."




56                 THE INQUISITION.
Ximines was undoubtedly an able Prelate, and he obtained
as the reward of his meritorious services, the highest Ecclesiastical honors in the gift of the Papacy. He was appointed
Cardinal by Pope Julius II.-he succeeded Deza as Inquisitor General of Castile, the "Grand Inquisitor who contrasts
so gloriously with his predecessors," founded the celebrated
university of Alcala-executed his famous Polyglot Bible,
a monument of "learning and munificence which entitles its
author to the gratitude of the whole Christian world"-prosecuted various gigantic undertakings-established the Inquisition in the New World, adding thousands to the number of'
its victims-and after the death of Ferdinand, as sole Regent
of the Kingdom, combined in his person almost supreme Ecclesiastical and political power; a despotism which he exercised with a vigorous will, not for the amelioration of the
severities of the Inquisitorial tribunals, but for the consolidation of Royal and Sacerdotal power. During his regency, if
not before, he might have exercised his power to reduce the
Inquisitorial system to the approved Ecclesiastical standard.
During the sixteenth century, the activity of the Iuquisition was chiefly employed "in excluding Protestantism from
the Spanish Peninsula. The Government of Spain might
well be jealous of the introduction into the Peninsula of a
principle whose first fruits were any thing else than submission to State authority."-I. M. Ives.
The persecuting policy of Phillip II., is defended by the
learned Balmes, a Spanish writer, because the introduction
of Protestantism  into Spain, would have been fatal "to the
unity, tranquility, and even the existence of the Spanish
Monarchy." This is a good argument in favor of despotism,
and one that is fully appreciated by the advocates of Pontifical supremacy.  "The rigor of the Inquisition was miti



PAPAL INFALLIBILITY.                57
gated in proportion as the danger of Spain's being inundated
by  Protestantism, ceased."  "The right of persecution
is a corollary of spiritual infallibility; and is the application by the State of the natural law of self-preservation
from evils which it has been tau ght by the Church to know
infallibly, are pernicious to society."  "The civil liberty of
a member of society (according to Blackstone) is his natural liberty, so far restrained by human laws as is necessary
and expedient for the general advantage of the public.""' Therefore, if the lawgiver possesses the absolute certainty
that opposition to a divine revelation or command affects society deleteriously, it is as much his duty to prevent it, as any
other crime."-L M. Ives.  The definition of civil liberty is
correct, but the inference isfalse.  There is no logical connection between the major and the minor propositions.  The
rights of minorities are sacred. Civil liberty restrains, but
does not destroy natural liberty. 3Moreover, if "absolute eertainty" confers "the right of persecution," Protestants may
exercise it, for they do know "infillibly," that the repression of
religious opinions, as inculcated by Romanists, is "a public
evil," tending to social and political revolutions.  This ultramontane claim of the right of persecution, founded upon
infallible certainty, is the cause of the religious wars which
for so many years desolated Europe. The claim of Papal
infallibility is ridiculous and absurd. One of the Augurs
of Rome is said to have remarked, "that he wondered how
one could look in the face of another without laughter." —
Where does the boasted infallibility of the Church rest?  In
the Popes, in the Councils, or in both?
The decisions of Papal infallibility are not even selfe-consistent, while on the main points of controversy, Rome occupies the position of a sect; an arrogant, boastful, persecuting
sect; at war with the infalliable teachinigs of' Nature and Rev —




THE INQUISITION.
elation, and with the interpretation of them as expressed in
the symbols of the One Holy, Universal Church of Jesus
Christ.
The claims of the Hierarchy have ever been resisted by
the wisest and bestjminds, even in the bosom of the Roman
Church; and] its decisions on philosophical and political
questions, to say nothing of religious rites, have been repudiated by nearly the whole civilized Mworld, Catholic and Protestant. Even in Papal countries, the stringency of discipline
has been relaxed; and the Hierarchy, deprived of the half of
its dominions, has been forced to devote itself to the irnprovement and [preservation of what is left.  The blow
which "cleft its triple crown," taught it a lesson of moderation in the maintenance of its claims; and. it has learned,
though late, the salutary lesson, that its truest friends and
wisest counsellors were those whom it persecuted for urging
the duties of repentance and reformation.
The Inquisition was founded on Papal infallibility-administered by Papal emissaries; and its results, cruel and sanguinary as they were, were approved by Rome, and constituted, in the estimation of Rornish historians, the strongest
claim of the Spanish Sovereigns to respect and renown.  "No
sooner swas the holy office established in Spain than there
shone forth a resplendent light; then it was that through the
Divine favor the nation increased in power, and became competent to overthrow and trample down the AMoorish domination.".Mariana.  The burning of the apostate Moors -was celebrated
as evidence of the piety of the Catholic Sovereigns.  "Los
lrenegados, fuernon acanavarcados; y'ios conversos quemados;
y'estos fueron las canas; y'luminarias nmas ailegres, por la fiesta
dle la vitoria, para la piedtad Catholica (le nuestros Reg'es."
-J l4ai..c,..,4 7,,..7i'...lo.  i




PAPAL PERSE CUTION.                59
Pope Alexander VI., May 3d, 1493, published a bull, in
which, taking into consideration the eminent services of the
Spanish Monarchs in the cause of the Church, especially in
the subversion of the Mohammedan Empire, and willing
to afford still wider scope for the prosecution of their pious
labor, he "out of his pure liberality, infallible knowledge,
and plenitude of Apostolic power," confirmed them in the
possession of all lands discovered or hereafter to be discovered by theni in the western ocean.
Padre Abarca considers that the "discovery of a new world
just offered to the Kings of Portugal and England, was reserved by Heaven for Spain, being forced, in a manner, upon
Ferdinand, in recompense for the subjugation of the MAoors
and the expulsion of the Jews."   And yet, in the face
of these:istorical ffacts, it is said that "the Pope could
not have done more than he did to prevail upon the Spanish
Monarchs to reduce the Inquisitorial system to the standard
which had Inade it, in times of equal emergency, the glory of
the Catholic Church."  "No language can be more touching
than his solemn appeal to the KIing and Queen, by the tender
mercies of Jesus Christ, to show  pity to such of their
subjects as might have fallen into error."  Sixtus IV.
and Innocent VIII., resorted to t}he expedient of absolving
heretics secretly, who "were penitent, in order that no legal
pretext might remain for proceeding against them," and other
"edicts of a like merciful nature." —I. M. Ives.
l7erc/tll4 edicts! to sare heretics who were penitent!  Strange
conceptions of mercy, to be entertained by Doctors of Canon
Law!  Even if heresy be c rimiazl, it might be supposed
that penitents might be granted a public absolution by the
Sovereign PontifftS, who claimed authority to crown and dethrone Kings, and to absolve their subljects fiom allegiance.




60                 THE INQUISITION.
"Most of these bold endeavors, however, to save criminals(?)
were unsuccessful, and as Llorente states, were wholly ignored by the Spanish government. The harsh rules of State
policy obtained the victory over the unchangeably merciful
principles which have ever guided the Christian Church.""The despotism  of the Inquisition, from the time of its
foundation until its existence ended, aimed at crushing the
influence of Rome in Spain.  The only check upon its cruelty, was the determined perseverance with which the Sovereign Pontiffs interfered in behalf of mercy."-L. M.Ives.In the early history of the Spanish Monarchy, the civil authority was comparatively independent of the spiritual, but
the influence of the Inquisition impaired the integrity and
corrupted the moral feelings of the nation, and subjected it, a,
prostrate, degraded kingdom, to the control of the Roman See.
i  Very few processes recorded by Llorente resulted in the
death of the prisoner, although lie notoriously sought out the
severest cases, and depicted the holy office, which he hated,
in the blackest possible colors.  The Spanish people, he
confesses, looked upon the aultos-da-fe as acts of grace, and
therefore, all parties, sects and ranks, took part in these exhibitions."-L A 1. Ives. This, of course, is cool, deliberate
irony.  IT NEVER  WVAS DESIGNED AS A STATEMENT OF
FACTS! for Llorente says, expressly, that Torquemada condemned 8,000 persons to be burned, and 96,000 to other
punishments-that Ximines condemned more than 2,500
persons to the stake, and 50,000 to other punishments-that
previous to the time of Phillip III., not more than one person in one or two thousand processes, received entire absolution, so that it became a proverb, "that all who were not
roasted, Iwere at least singed."
"Devant l'Inquisition, quand on vient a jube,
Si l'on ne sort -roti, l'on sort au moine flamnbe."




PAPAL PERSECUTION.                61
Paramo finds authority for burnings in the example of the
Disciples at Samaria, forgetful of the severe rebuke of the
Savior, "ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; the
Son of Man came not to destroy men's lives, but to save
them," and records that miracles were wrought by the Virgin, in testimony of her approbation of the Holy Office, in
such profusion, and with such rapidity, that the Secretary
was unable to record them.
It has been said, with marked emphasis, that "despotic
governments are unfavorable to the Papacy."  Acting on the
principle "fas est ab hoste doceri," we are constrained to admit, that distorted and false as this statement is, it contains,
nevertheless, an element of truth, which must be taken into
the account in making a proper adjustment of historical facts.
A  strong government, exercising the prerogative of sovereignty, whether Monarchical or Democratic, must necessarily resist the intervention of the Papacy, as incompatible
with civil and religious liberty. History teaches that the
eras of marked Papal despotism have coincided with those
in which the civil governments were in a feeble or distracted
condition. Claiming the right of enforcing uniformity in
faith, but without any physical force to carry the sentence
into execution, the Roman Church has been forced to rely
upon the secular power to maintain the detestable principle
of coercion and persecution.
To say that the Roman Church did not persecute, that the
victims suffered death by State authority, and that the
Church mercifully interposed to save all she could, is simply
not true. Kings and Emperors were the instruments of the
the Papacy. If they rebelled, they were anathematized,
deposed, and their Kingdoms given away to Popish vassals.
The civil authorities were required to extirpate heresy from




62                  T-TE INQUISTIORN.
their territories, and this requisition is still enforced to the utmost wherever the Pope has power to do so.  There are those
who manage, the Guerilla forces of controversy, so as to make
each division support the other, without subjecting the whole
to the responsibilities incurred by either.  When it is politic,
the secular denies the authority of the spiritual-when it is
expedient, the spiritual ignores the existence of the secular.
The Church did not burn the heretics, the civil authorities
did that. Is it the duty of civil government to kill citizens
because their faith on religious subjects differs fiom that of
the Church?  The Court of Rome originated the Inquisition,
forced it upon the Governments, alppointed its officers, and
constituted the Court of' final appeal; and therefore, is justly
responsible for all its oppression, and blood, and torture, and
death.  The Court of Rome -was the judge, and the civil
government wvas the executioner.
Wihy did not the Pope forbid the executions, the tortures,
and the processes of Inquisition?  Why did he not abolish the
tribunal, and suLmmon the Inquisitors to Rome, to answer for
nral-administration?
The victims of the Inquisition were peaceable citizensnoble civilians and prelates-conscientious Jews-chivalrous
Moors-large miinded, inquiring' Philosophers-illustrious Savans-.-arnest-  enthusiastic, protesting Catholics-illiterate
pea)sants —3nwomen and children, ail in-discriminately subjected
t:o Inquisitorial tortures —a sacrifice upon the altar of a hypocritical Hierarchy, which professes to be the minister of mercy-a sacrifice extending through generations and centuries,
approved, colmimanded, enforced on pain of anathemas and
deposition, and celebrated by religious festivities-a series of
EcclesJastical triumnphs over the liberties of mankind, and of
hto-Fr:ible atrocities, without a parallel-tin the history of the world.




PAPAL PERSECUTION.                  63
And this is the Inquisition of Rome, "planned by the wisest
of Popes, and sanctioned by the most devout and merciful
of Saints;" upon which "those who are called its victims invoked the benedictions of Heaven!"  The incense of human sacrifices cast away the smell of corpses, and hymns of
joyfil triumph'"drowned the voice of angry shouts."  "'Holy
water" swashed away the stains of blood, and the "fires that
burned the heretics," shone with supernatural splendor!
The converts under such a discipline —the faithful, saved
by the Church, were hypocrites and slaves. Hie who puts
his conscience into the keeping of the sword, is the victim of
oppression and terror; the iron has entered into his soul-a
chain is about his neck-hel is a slave, a. dissembler, a coward, a Simon AMagus, obeying not God, but man.  A  man
who would sell himself to the Church for fiar of punishment,
would sell himself to any other tyrant -for the same reason.
A people in wholose souls the sacred fire of liberty is extinguished through fear ef. pain, can never be free.  Were this
persecuting principle applied to our Catholic feilow- citizens,
the best and purest minds would be its victims, while ttle unprincipled and reckless would accept the faith imposed upon
themn by the persecuting power.
A full "a,cred Colleg'c" is composed of' serenty Cardinals,
six of whom are of the order of Bishops, fifty of the order
of Priests, and fourteen of the order of Deacons.  They are
all appointed by the Pope, and a vacancy in the Holy See is
filled by the Cardinals, thus constituting a self-perpetuated
Aristocracy, claiming the right of prescribing laws to the
world. Fifty-four of the acucal Cardinals are said to be
Italians; sixteen are foreigners —six of France, two of Portugal, one of iPrussia, one of Belgium, and one of England."Twenty-seven of the Cardinals reside in the City of R:omle,




364               T1HE INQUISITION.
and participate, under the Pope, in the spiritual government
of the Church, and in the temporal government of the Pontifical States."
The Pope has been denominated by Canon Law, "Our
Lord God on the Earth, having power to dispense with laws,
to change the substantial nature of things, and to preside over
all the kingdoms of the globe." The Pope and the Papal
Hierarchy claim the power of absolving from sin-a blasphemous impiety, dispensing with the obligations of the Divine law, and appropriating to itself, as a holy principle for the
Church, the damning doctrine, that it is lawful to do evil that
good may come; a usurpation of authority, to which we can
find a parallel only in the legislation of the Pagan nations.
The Institutes of Menu require of the people, even of'
Princes, implicit obedience to the Brahmins as the interpreters of the laws.  "What Prince could gain wealth by
oppressing them, (the Brahmins) who, if angry, could frame
other worlds, and could give being to other Gods and other
nortals."
The history of the Roman Pontiffs proves that they urged
upon the civil authorities, by anathemas and violence, the
adoption of the "persecuting principle of canon law." It
was a maxim, that "to keep faith with those who have it not,
is an offense against the faith." A league or covenant with
heretics and schismatics, though confirmed by oath or Apostolic confirmation, was of no binding force. "The person
who shall have promised them security, shall not in this case
be obliged to keep his promise, by whatever tie he may be engaged."-Council of Constance. "Scito te dare fidern hareticis, violatoribus fidei sancta, non potuisse, et idcirco peccare
mortaliter, si servabis; quia fideli ad irfidelem non potest
ulla communio."-Plope Miartin V1   The fundamental prin



PAPAL PERSECUTION.                 65
ciples of Pontifical diplomacy were clearly defined.  "Nonfides cum hereticis," "Juramentum contra utilitatem Ecclesiasticam prmstitum non tenet."  The principal proof afforded of attachment to religion, was the systematic persecution
of those who practiced it. It was a part of the Ecclesiastical morality to fulminate the thunders of the Vatican, not
so much against the results of thought, as against the liberty
of thinking; those who claimed the privilege of quoting the
Bible against the supremacy of the Papacy, and tile errors
of a Paganized Christlianity, being especially marked for Inquisition and torture.
The Inquisition was the most efficient support of the Pontifical throne.  Cardinal Hadrian, Inquisitor General of
Spain, became Pope Adrian VI.-Cardinal Caraffa, who reestablished the Inquisition in Italy, became Pope Paul IV.Cardinal Alessandria, commissioner of the Inquisition at
Rome, became Pope Pius V. "'He lived only in his devotions, and in the Inquisition."  Paul IV. and Pius V. insisted.
on the utmost rigor in the proceedings of the Inquisition,
subjected new classes of offenses to its jurisdiction, and sanctioned the use of torture for the detection of accomplices.The punishments imposed were fines, imprisonment, stripes,
the boring of the tongue, and the galleys.
Even Spain was subjected entirely to Ecclesiastical domination. The decrees of the Council of Trent were accepted
by Philip II. Caranza, Archbishop of Toledo, having published some doctrines approximating towards Protestantism,
was imprisoned by the Inquisition in Spain, and afterwards
sent to Rome, but even there, "he could not in the end escape
condemnation."  The Popes, so far from being "absolutely
levoid of power to help" the victims of persecution, ruled
over the Peninsula wi tll, rod of iron.  "The Inquisition
9




66                THE INQUISITION.
watched with merciless severity over the unity and inviolability of the faith." There were at one time in Spain eighteen Inquisitorial Courts, and twenty thousand familiars, or
spies, whose duty it was to apprehend suspected persons,
and drag them to the cells of the Inquisition.
Pius V. cherished intense hatred toward the heretical sectssought to extirpate the remains of dissent in the Catholic territories-assisted the French Catholics, with money and
troops-ordered that the Huguenot prisoners should be slain,
urged Phillip II. to an armed intervention in the Netherlandsapproved Alba's bloody measures, and sent him, as a reward, the "consecrated hat and sword," the reward of a piratical crusade against the genius of religious freedom, and
the sacred rights of the human conscience. —Catena, Vita di
Pio V.  "'onsigonor," said a privy counsellor of Phillip II.
to the Papal Nuncio, while these events were transpiring,
"are you nosw content with the King's proceedings?"  "Perfectly content," answered the Nuncio, with a smile. The
Ecclesiastical spirit was now perfectly aroused, and arrayed
itself against Protestantism in almost every form.
Gregory XIII. (Hugo Buoncompagno de Bologna) ascended the Pontifical throne 1572, read Mass three times a week,
aided the Jesuits liberally, founded Colleges, encouraged
Literature, reformed the Calendar, increased the revenues
of the Church, and made indefatigable and successful efforts
against the Protestants.  The Jesuits established themselves
in France, attracted attention by their preaching and writings, and stimulated the religious enthusiasm of the Catholics. France, Spain, and the Pope, formed a coalition for
the suppression of the spreading heresy.
Mathieu, a Jesuit, went to Rome and procured from Grego )y XIII. a declaration that he fidly v approved of the French




PAPAL PERSECUTION.                67
Princes taking up arms against the heretics, that he removed
every scruple they might entertain on that subject, and that
even if the King should not approve their conduct, they must
nevertheless prosecute their plan, till they achieved the
grand object of extirpating the heretics."
As the Huguenots could not be crushed in open war, it
was necessary to resort to treachery.
I now quote from the Catholic historian, Rotteck, Professor in the University of Freiburgh, and member of the
Chamber of Deputies of the Grand Duchy of Baden: "To
destroy heresy, was deemed an indispensable duty. To
keep faith with heretics was never thought obligatory."  It
was desirable to destroy the heads of the Reformers, especially the Admiral Coligny, whose greatness of mind kept
the party together. "So it was agreed, in order to entice the
heads of the Reformers to Paris, to marry the King's sister,
Margaret of Valois, with the Prince of Navarre, Henry of
Beamn, afterwards Henry IV. of France.
The marriage took place Aug. 17, 1572. The rival houses
seemed to have cemented an enduring peace. On the 24th
of August, at the ringing of bells, the massacre commenced.
The first victim was Coligny, who lay ill of a wound received two days before by a treacherous shot. Blood flowed
in the castle and in the streets. The King, the instrument of
death in his hand, exclaimed furiously to his brother-in-law,
Henry of Navarre, and the Prince of Conde: "Death, Mass,
or the Bastile!"  From  a window he fired upon his flying
subjects, and the next day went round in the streets of Paris,
delighted at the sight of bleeding victims. The Queen
Mother, also, Catharine de Medicis, neice of Pope Clement VII., and the Court ladies, looked with exultation and
triumph upon the scene of carnage.




48                THE     _ INU$SITIONX
The massacre was extended by the order of the King, into
most of the provinces of the Kingdom.
In Paris, the number of victims, according to Bossuet,
was 6,000; but according to Davilla, 10,000. The number
of lHuguenots that perished throughout the provinces, was
variously estimated at from thirty to seventy thousand. —
Sully- Tuanus.
"It was a horrible scene," says Thulanus, "xvhen the
streets and passages resounded with the noise of those that
met together for murder and plunder; the groans of the dying, the shrieks of those that were butchered, the bodies of the
slain that were thrown out of the windows, the courts and chambers of the houses that were filled with them, the dead bodies
dragged through the streets, the blood running through the
channels in torrents, men and -womeni and children involved
in one common destruction, and the gates and entrances of
the King's palace all besmeared with their blood."  Medals
were coined to perpetuate its memory, with the inscription,
"6Pietas excitavit Justitic2n."
The King sent a messenger to the Pope to announce the
intelligence of the extirpation of the heretics, and that the
Seine flowed on more majestically after receiving their dead
bodies.
Cardinal Lorraine, who had just closed the Council of
Trent with anathemas against the heretics, gave the messenger a thousand pieces of gold, and said the King must have
been filled with a sudden inspiration of God, when he gave
the order for the slaughter of the heretics.-DeThou. The
Pope and Cardinals went in procession to the Church of St.
Louis, to'return solemn thanks to God. Te Deum was sung,
and the firing of cannon announced. the joyful news. "La
ha.ine de l'heresic les fit recevoir, aogrealblemlent a Rorne."



PAPAL PERSECUTION.                 69.Bossuet. "La Cour de Rome et le Conseil de'Espagne eurent une joye indicible de la Saint Bartelemy. Le Pape
alla en procession a l1eglise de Saint Louis, rendre graces a
Dieu d'an si heureux succes, et l'on fit ue panegyrique de
cette action sous le nom de Triumphe de l'Eglise."-Mezerey
-Sull.y. "Les Catholiques se regarderent colmme les executeurs de lajustice de Dieu." — Tlteuanzs.
Cardinal Santorio Sanseverina, the leading member of the
Congregation for French affairs, long the soul of the Inquisition, and subsequently a prominent candidate for the Papacy,
called it the celebrated day of' St. Bartholemew, most cheering to the Catbolics.  "Giusto sdegno del re Carlos IX., di
gloriosa memoria, in quel celebre giorno di S. Bartolomeo
lietisimo a Cattolici!"
The Pope wrote a special letter to.the King, thankiinghim
for the service he had rendered the Church. "TG he Catholic
Church shall most assuredly record in her sacred annals
a work of such devotion to her, and celebrate your name
with  never dying praises; but above all, you may
most assuredly promise to yourself an ample retribution
from the Divine Goodness for this most excellent undertaking, and may rest assured, that we shall never cease to pour
forth our most earnest prayers to that Divine Goodness for
this intent and purpose;" and, as if to consecrate the act, and
seal the guilt of the Church throughout all time, a picture
was added to the embellishments of the Vatican, in the anteroom of the Sistine, to commemorate the triumphs of the
Church over her enemies.
The following extract from E. Briffault's French work upon
Rome, goes to prove that the Pope and the Roman Hierarchy, if not anterior accomplices, were at least accessory to
the horrors perpet:ratted on0 this occasiour




70               TITHE INQUISITION.
"When the news of the Bartholomew night arrived at
Rome, the Cardinal from Lorraine was at the Papal residence.  The French Court despatched a nobleman as a messenger to him to make him acquainted with the particulars of
that night. lHe received from the Cardinal, on the spot, a
present of one thousand pieces of gold, and Pope Gregory XIII.
immediately ordered a salute to be fired by the cannons of
the castle of San Angelo, and bonfires, in the evening, illuminated the whole city. The day following, the Pope, accompanied by all the Cardinals, proceeded to the Church of
St. Mark and St. Louis, the parish church of the French, to
return thanks to God for the perpet;rated horrors. He went
on foot, in procession, the German Emperor's Ambassador
carrying the trail of his robes; the Cardinal from Lorraine
read the H-igh.Aass. Medals were struck in memory of this
event, and a picture ordered to be painted, representing the
slaughter of the Bartholomew night. Inscribed on a ribbon
in the upper part of the picture, the following words may be
seen: —Pontifex Colinii necem probat."  (The Pope approves
of the murder of Coligny.)
The edict of Nantes, by Henry IV., 1598, granting toleration to Protestants, after nearly a century of religious and political prosperity, was revoked by Louis XIV., 1685, at the
instigation of his Jesuit Confessor, and the demand of the Papal party; opening upon the defenseless Huguenots a storm of
fire, and hail, and blood. Despotism was strained to the utmost-all laws, human and Divine, were violated-the faith of
treaties was disregarded-Protestantism, and even the shadow
of dissent, was almost annihilated-liberty was sacrificed upon the altar of a fanatical faith, and the light of truth was
eclipsed in a blaze of Catholic glory.
The dispensations of Providence are retributive, and Iiisto?y




ITS CQONSEQUENCES.               -71
records the execution of the decrees. Sixtus V. formed a league
with Philip IL., against England, but the Lord heard the
prayers of' his people, breathed upon tile face of the waters,
and the "invincible Armada" was scattered as chaff before
the wind. Protestant England, though under the ban of the
Papal anathema, is, commercially and politically, the first
among the powers of the world.
The Spanish peninsula, washed by twro seas, possessed
of splendid harbors, noble rivers, fertile plains, a genial
clime,'a productive soil, the key of the Mediterranean commanding the commerce of Western Asia and Southern Europe, vast colonial possessions and exhaustless mines-once
the garden of the world; is now the gigantic wreck of the
Papal Inquisition-her harbors without ships, her commerce
prostrated, the richest jewels of her crown wrested from
her diadem, the character of her people overspread with
the gloom  of fanaticism, her government rent with discord
and faction, and her fields all sown with salt.
The Puritans of New England, the Huguenots of the
Southern States, and the Catholics of Maryland, driven from
their fatherland by persecution, formed in the great campaign
of freedom the two wings and the central column of the
Grand Army, which, by its DEcLAR.ATION OF SENTIMENTS,
and by the inspiration of French soldiers returned from this
country, fanned into a flame the fires of the French revolution. The Church and the State had committed great crimes,
divorcing Science and Religion, and arraying the powers of
Government against the free exercise of thought. The revolution was the divinely appointed minister of vengeance
against the oppressors. In the name of "mute generations,"
murdered by the Inquisition, by St. Bartholomew massacres,
and by the religious -wars, it armed itself with all the blood,




72               TaE INQUIsITION.
and stakes, and scaffolds, and prayers of the martyred dead,
and poured out the vials of wrath, and overwhelmed the Infidel Church with storms, and howling winds, and sulphur
and fire. It was the vengeance of God, who had taken the
fury of man as the instrument of his wrath; and the cup of
his indignation is not yet exhausted, for over that land of violence and blood, dark clouds are gathering, the elements are
in fierce conflict, and the day may not be distant, when a
storm of fire will be rained upon the "Seat of the Beast."
We need not go far to find the counterpart of Bunyan's
picture of the Giant Pope, a decrepid old man, deprived of
the vigor of early manhood, sitting in his consecrated cave,
surrounded by bones, crosses, images, skulls, penal laws, instruments of torture, consecrated relics and holy water, grinning at the Pilgrims as they pass on their way to the Celestial City, biting his nails in impotent rage, because he cannot
come'at them, and growling, "you will never mend your
ways until more of you be burned."  His fanaticism kindles
inquisitorial fires, and consecrates religious wars and bloody
massacres-burning men's bodies in professed love for their
souls. His spirit "breathes revenge, and murder beats from
his heart."  Perhaps another burning may be close at hand,
for having renewed his strength by a little salutary tonic of
Austrian guns and French bayonets, the old giant, coming
out of his cave, raises his blood-stained banner and advocates
the obsolete idea, the RIGHT OF PERSECUTION —the baptism of
fire being his sacrament exclusively for heretics.
Every Roman Prelate is pledged to have the Catholic
Religion established by law  as far as possible, to obey
the Roman. Pontiff, and to hold all things delivered by the
General Councils, persecuting decrees as well as definitions
of doctrine.




FINAL RESULTS.                     73
t" So far from granting toleration to Protestants, it is the duty
of the Church to exterminate the rites of their religion. —
Protestants are heretics, and as such, are worse than Jews
and Pagans. It is the duty of the Roman Catholic Church
to compel heretics, by corporeal punishment, to submit to her
faith. The punishments decreed by the Roman Catholic
Church, are confiscation of goods, exile, imprisonment, and
death."-Den's Theology.:" We also swear that we will persecute this cursed Evangelical doctrine as long as we have a drop of blood in our
bodies-and we will eradicate it secretly and publicly, violently and deceitfully, with words and with deeds, the sword
not excluded."-Jcsuit Con/ession.
The oath of the Bishop to the Supreme Pontiff makes it
the duty of the Prelate and Priest to persecute, and is inconsistent with any proper allegiance to civil government.  The
Bishop is the sworn vassal of a foreign Prince.  "I will
help to defend and keep the Roman Papacy and the royalties
of St. Peter against all men.  The rights, honors, privileges,
and authority of the holy Roman Church of our Lord the
Pope, and -his aforesaid successors, I will endeavor to preserve, defend, increase and advance. The rules of the Holy Fathers, the Apostolic decrees, ordinances or disposals,
reservations, provisions and mandates, I will observe with
all my might, and cause to be observed by others. Heretics,
schismatics, and rebels to our said Lord, or his aforesaid succ(essors, I will to my utmost persecute and oppose.  So help me
God and thlese holy Gospels Of' God."  "H-ereticos, schismaticos, et rebellos, eidem domino nostro, vel successoribus prtadictis, pro posse, persequar et oppugnabo."
T.he right and duty of persec-uting Protestantts, to the ul:mn-ost, is at the present time as nuch. an article of the faith of
1 {




74                THE INQUISITION.
the Roman Catholic Church, as the doctrine of the Maass
or Purgatory.
Gregory XVI., in an encyclical letter addressed, 1832, to all
Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops and Bishops, denounced
liberty of conscience as a "most pestilent error, which
the unblushing impudence of some has held forth as an advantage to Rellgion"  execrated the "detested liberty of
the Press"-urged the union of Church and State, and denounced those who would burst the "bond which unites the
Priesthood to the Empire —a union dreaded by the profane
lovers of liberty."
Orestes A. Broxvnson, who says that he publishes nothing
without the consent of his Bishop, and whose Quarterly
bears upon its front the imprimatur of the Prelates of the
Church, says "the proper question is not whether the Papacy
be or be not compatible with Republican government, but
whether it be or be not founded in Divine Right. But in
point of fact, Democracy is a mischievous dream, wherever
the Catholic Church does not predominate, to inspire the
people with reverence, and to teach and accustom them to
bow to authority."
A mischievous dream in the United States-but a glorious experiment in Mexico and France, where the people have
been taught to bow to authority by the Catholic Church!  He
adds, "It is the intention of the Pope to possess this country,
undoubtedly. In this intention he is aided by the Jesuits, by
all the Catholic Prelates and Priests-that the policy of the
Church is dreaded and opposed by all Protestants, Infidels,
demagogues, tyrants, and oppressors, is also unquestionably
true. Save, then, in the discharge of our civil duties, and
in the ordinary business of life, there is, ated Clan be, no hIzarzwouy! betweeen C(.atholics,. a.n11!7 Protestantls."




FINAL RESULTS.                   75
The Roman Catholic Church "has been governed by rulers successively claiming an absolute, infallible spiritual
sway-has ever professed not only to believe, but to know
that its teachings are certainly true, and that all other teachings are certainly false, and that uncompromising warfare
with every element, within ard without, in revolt against it, was
certainly its bounden duty to God."-I. AL Ives.
This is definite and unequivocal. Rome is, and ever has
been, a persecuting power. The fires of Vesuvius are not
extinct, though the rivers of burning lava no longer flow
down its sides.
True it is, that the Romish Despotism has been restrained
by the strong hand of the civil power, or the stronger hand
of popular opinion; but the dogma is what it was, and where
it was. The Waldenses, the Jews, the Moors, the IHuguenots, and the Reformers of Germany and England,
were the victims not of a cruel age, but of a cruel doctrine, and. that doctrine is as cruel nowv as it was in the
Pontificate of Innocent III., or Clement VIII., or Gregory
XIII. The maintenance and application of this principle
would carry the brand of exterminating war into the heart
of Pagan, Mohammedam, and Protestant lands, to persecute
and destroy, and torture and burn whole tribes and nations,
as detested, accursed, excommunicated, heretical miscreants, I"undeserving of pityfjom God or mnan!"  THE WHOLE PROTESTANT
WORLD WOULD BE A GBEAT AUTO-DA-FEE-THE POPE, THE
GRAND INQUISITOBL, AWAITING THE FORTUNATE HOUR WHEN
HE COULD APPLY THE TORCH, AND SEE THE FIRES FLAME UP
TO HEAVEN AMID THE SMOKE OF INCENSE AND THE SHOUTS
OF TRIUMPH!!
According to the basis of the Reformation, freedom of
Conscience, and the right of private judgment respectinog




THE INQUISITION.
the doctrines of religion, are the very essence of opposition
to Rome; though in the Protestant States, liberty of Conscience was not always respected, the spirit of Rome having
lingered among the people, after the institutions had passed
away-sanctioning persecution by Royal authority, under the
influence of a traditional faith, received through long centuries of subjection to the Romish Church —the fossil relics of a
former intolerant age, embedded in the legislation and jurisprudence of enlightened Nations.
The rights of conscience, and the line of demarcation between spiritual and political authority, were not distinctly recognized, and penal sanctions were enforced against errors
which could not be regarded as offenses against the State.The responsibility of this great wrong in the administration
of civil government, rests upon Rome.
Says Blackstone,'"In the meantime, they had prevailed
upon the weakness of bigoted princes, to make the civil
power subservient to their purposes, by making heresy not
only a temporal, but even a capital offense-the Romish
Ecclesiastics determining without appeal, whatever they
pleased to be heresy, and shifting off to the secular arm
the odium and drudgery of executors. Nay, they pretended
to pray and intercede in behalf of the convicted heretic,
vt citra mortes perictlurm sententia circa cure  moderatur! well
knowing, at the same time, that they were delivering the
unhappy victim to certain death."  "All persecution and
oppression of Conscience, on the score of religious persuasion, is highly unjustifiable upon every principle of natural
reason, civil liberty, and sound religion.". Says Montesquieu,
"It is a principle that every religion which is persecuted,
becomes, itself, persecuting," for as soon as it arises above persecultion, it attacks the religion lwhich pe.rsecuted it, not as




FINAL RESULTS.                   77
a religion, but as a TYRANNY. Penal laws ought to be avoided
in respect to religion; for history sufficiently informs us that
they never had any other effect than to destroy."  The Star
Chamber, the Court of High Commission, and the persecuting edicts of Protestant States wNrere unjustifiable, on any
sound principles of reason or law; but it remains for Romanists to defend the principles of the Inquisition, upon
which they were founded.
Since the battle of Culloden, 1746, the last attempt of the
House of Stuart for the throne of England, to the present
time, one hundred and six years, the nations of the world
have made rapid progress in the theory and practice of government.  The American Revolution, and the free institutions thence resulting, have caused the shadow to move forward upon the dial plate of Time, more degrees than it had
advanced during the three preceding centuries. Toleration
is granted partially, at least, in nearly all the independent
States of the Old World, while many of them  declare and
maintain, in behalf of all subjects, the right of worship according to the faith which they have adopted.
There is darkness in Egypt, but light in all the land of Goshen. There is tyranny at Rome, and in the Italian States,
and Romish Ecclesiastics maintain and defend the merciful
principles of the Inquisition, which made it the "glory and
pride of the Catholic Church!"  Anericans may not build a
Church at Rome, as Italians or the subjects of the Pope may
do in Protestant States. Every Roman Church that is consecrated in this country, and every Catholic spire that points
to Heaven, rebukes the spirit of those enemies of freedom
Who advocate the restraint of civil and religious liberty.
Even the Sultan is more liberal and enlightened than the
Pope; for he has at last, as the result, perhaps, of the diplo



78                THE INQUISITION.
macy of Protestant nations, granted toleration to Christians;
presenting to the world "the sublime spectacle, the Crescent
protecting the Cross."
The persecuting edicts of the Roman Church are not repealed, and remain in full force, restraining freedom of worship, in every City and State where the Hierarchy exerts a
paramount influence.
The assertion of the right and duty of persecution having
for a long time been held in abeyance, and even stoutly
denied, as we have reason to know, has for some secret
reasons, whether of the Propaganda, or the policy of the
Jesuits, or by direction of the Pope and Cardinals, or
through a feeling of desperation of men who know that the
hour of their overthrow draweth nigh, recently, and simultaneously been revived, at Rome, in England, in Baltimore, in
New York, and even in the far west; and we are told of the
glorious Inquisition, by which heretics were burned, and Eupean civilization saved!
Protestant Churches do not receive the dogma of persecution as an article of faith, or of opinion, or of policy; but denounce it as a doctrine of devils. To claim any such right
is an intolerant assumption over other men's consciences.The sect or party, the Prelate or Pastor that exercises, or
defends or claims any such usurpation, is condemned already
in the judgment of right minded men.
The statement sometimes made that all Churches would
persecute if they had the power, is irrelevant to the main
question, and is at variance with the recorded facts of history, as well as with the fundamental principles of Protestantism. The "right of persecution implies infallibility, the
subjection of the State to the spiritual power, and the infliction of physical penalties for spiritual offlnses"-three finda



FINAL RESULTS.                   79
mental errors of spiritual despotism, which all true Protestants repudiate and abhor.
The Roman Church affirms the duty of persecuting heretics-approves of the Inquisition-sanctions the numerous
edicts of the Popes and the decrees of the Councils, and is
obliged by her canons to do so; an'd she cannot repeal one of
her cruel laws, or profess repentance for one of her cruel
deeds, without giving up her infallibility, and her life. The
true Catholic Church has no such doctrines, no such persecuting edicts; and the scenes of former days are remembered
by all good men, Catholics and Protestants, only with reprobation and horror.
It is said, "Why blame Romanists for the persecutions of
a former dark, fanatical age?"  WTVe do not. If they disown
the acts, and the principle, and the right of the Church to
persecute, we exonerate them from blame. It is for avowing
and deefending the principle that we condemn them. And when
we are told that sixty or seventy men at Rome, the Pope and
the Cardinals, have a right to prescribe what we may or may
not believe and speak, on pain offines, imprisonment and deathl,
we hesitate not to brand such a sentiment as AT WAR W\ITII
THE PREROGATIVE OF GOD AND THE RIGHTS'OF MIAN.
The Fenelons, the Massillons, the Bourdalous, the Paschals,
the Tassos, the Raphaels, the Michael Angelos, the Lords
Baltimore, and similar stars of glory; and others less illustrious but scarcely less worthy, redeemed by the Divine power
of Christianity, working with celestial force among the hlumble, the prayerful. the unlearned, the retired scholars and
savans, the laborious, faithful preachers, and the great multitude of liberal, enlightened, freedom loving Catholics of our
own country, we do not hold responsible f.or the guilt of the
Hierarchy.




80                THE INQUISITION.
But if the Church is bound not only to defend, but to perpetuate the faith, what philanthropy is to be compared with
that of conquering Empires for the Church?  The Crusades
against the Infidels, the Inquisition against the heretics, the
St. Bartholomew massacres, and treasonable plots against
the independence of sovereign States, are all to be regarded
as Christian duties, resulting legitimately from the principles
of infallibility!  And if every hope of salvation is confined
to the Church, if heresy is perdition, was it not an act of
mercy to secure the conversion of the heretics, by fire and
sword, Inquisitorial tortures and military Crusades?  May not
"war, slaughter, carnage and rapine -be made acceptable to
the Divinity?"  Did not "the Apostles and first teachers
of Christianity, preach through the world like humble, holy
despots," exhorting civil rulers to "extirpate unbelievers and
heretics with fire and sword?"'  The student of the Sacred
Scriptlures is shocked by the presumption and arrogance implied in such inquiries.  Religion is polluted by such sentiments-virtue blushes in their presence; and all the forms of
justice are outraged by such "infallible" schemes of mercy!
for if there is a sin besides that of blasphemy against the
Holy Ghost, vwhich is beyond the reach of pardon, and fbr
which no blood was shed on Calvary, it is the exercise of
arbitrary power in the name of Jesus Christ-burning rmen's
bodies for the conversion of their souls.