Chapter XIV: Book III (5)

When the sermon is ended, two readers, one after another, mount the same pulpit, and with a loud voice publicly read over the sentences of all the criminals, and the punishment to which they are condemned. He whose sentence is to be read over, is brought by an officer into the middle of the gallery, holding an extinguished taper in his hand, and there stands till his sentence is read through; and because all the criminals are supposed to have incurred the greater excommunication, when any one’s sentence is read over, he is brought to the foot of the altar, where, upon his knees, and his hands placed on the missale, he waits till so many are brought there, as there are missals upon the altar. Then the reader for some time defers the reading of the sentences; and after he hath admonished those who are kneeling at the altar, that they should recite with him with their heart and mouth the confession of faith he is to read over to them, he reads it with a loud voice; and when it is ended, they all take their former places. Then the reader reads over the sentences of the rest, and the same order is observed till all the sentences are gone through.

When the sentences of all those, who are freed from the punishment of death by the mercy of the office, are read through, the inquisitor rises from his throne, puts on his sacred vestments, and being attended with about twenty priests, comes down into the middle of the church, and there saying over some solemn prayers,[274] which may be seen[275] in the Book of the Sentences of the Thoulouse Inquisition, he absolves them all from the excommunication they were under, giving each of them a blow by the hands of those priests who attend him.

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Footnote 274:

_Verse._ Lord save thy men servants, and thine handmaids.
_Resp._ Those, O my God, who trust in thee.
_Verse._ The Lord be with you.
_Resp._ And with thy spirit.

_Let us pray._

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to these thy men servants, and thine
handmaids, the worthy fruit of penance; that they may be rendered
innocent in the sight of thy holy church, from the integrity of which
they have strayed through sin, by obtaining the pardon of their sins,
through Christ our Lord. _Amen._

Footnote 275:

Fol. 149.

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Farther, when the inquisitors absolve and reconcile penitents at an act of faith, they make use of rods, to admonish them, that by heresy they have fallen from the favour of God into his anger and fury. Hence Paramus[276] advises such penitents to consider, with how great indulgence they are treated, because they are only whipped on the shoulders; that they may go away, and being mindful of the divine fury, may take heed not to relapse for the future. The rod also points out the judiciary power which the inquisitors exercise over impious heretics, and those who are suspected of heresy; because a rod is the measure by which any one’s deserts are measured, and therefore penitents are whipped with rods according to the nature of their offence, whereby their faults are weighed and measured. Farther, the inquisitors use rods, because, as a rod at the beginning is in its nature flexible, tender and soft, but at last hard, blunt and stiff, so the inquisitors are soft and tender, whilst penitents offending through frailty and ignorance, reconcile themselves; but if heretics do afterwards suffer themselves to be overcome by wickedness, and fall again into the crimes they have committed, then they whip them, and strike them severely, even to the burning of the fire. And, finally, they use rods to establish and support the weak in the faith; because rods are a very apt instrument to support and confirm the lame and weak.

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Footnote 276:

L. 2. t. 3. c. 11.

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The penitents carry in their hands extinguished wax tapers, whilst the inquisitors reconcile them; to intimate, that the light of the faith hath been altogether extinguished in their minds by the sin of heresy and infidelity. These tapers are made of wax, whereby heretics profess (Risum teneatis) that their hearts have been so melted, through the heat of Concupiscence, as to receive various sects; and that as wax grows hard by moisture, but melts by dryness and warmth, so they being hardened by the moisture of carnal delights, have remained in infidelity, but are melted as wax, and converted by the dryness and heat of tribulation and penance enjoined them. And finally, the cotton of the taper, and the wax of which it is made, and the fire with which it is lighted after absolution, shadow forth that the heretics have denied faith, hope, and charity. But when the tapers are lighted after their reconciliation, this signifies that they profess they will demonstrate, by the light of good works, the faith which they have recovered.

Farther, those who are reconciled are sprinkled with holy water and hyssop, in token, that being brought out of the power of darkness, and having turned the eyes of their minds to the true light of the faith, they are to remain free from all the snares and calumnies of the devil, that they may serve God with greater freedom.

Farther, he who hath offended against the Catholic faith which he had professed, hath a rope tied round his neck, to signify, that the inward parts of such a person being possessed by the craftiness of the devil, have been given to such sins, of which his outward parts being tied with ropes, give a very evident sign and proof. And though they are reconciled after abjuration of their heresy, yet they walk with a rope tied about their necks; that they may come out as witnesses against themselves, and may be examples to others, that they may turn their eyes to the inward spots of the mind.

During this action, every one of the prisoners eats the bread and figs in the church, which were given them by the officers of the inquisition in jail.

When this ceremony is performed, the inquisitor goes back to his place; after which the sentences of those who are appointed to death are read over; the conclusion of which is, that the inquisition can shew them no favour, upon account of their being relapsed, or impenitent, and that therefore it delivers them over to the arm of the secular court, which they earnestly intreat so to moderate their punishment, as to prevent the effusion of blood, and danger of death. When those last words are read, one of the officers of the holy office gives each of them a blow on the breast, by which he signifies that they are left by the inquisition; upon which one of the officers of secular justice comes to them and claims them. If any of them are in holy orders, they are degraded, and deprived of all their orders, before they are delivered to the secular arm. After this they read the sentences against the dead. At last these miserable wretches are brought to the secular judge, to hear the sentence of death; and when they come before him, they are severally asked in what religion they desire to die? Their crime is never inquired into; because it is not the office of the secular magistrate to ask, whether those, who are condemned by the inquisition, are criminal? He is to presuppose them guilty, and his duty is to inflict the punishment appointed by law upon those who commit such crimes, of which they are pronounced guilty by the inquisition. When they have answered this one single question, they are soon after tied to a stake, round about which there is placed a pile of wood. Those who answer that they will die Catholics, are first strangled; but those who say they will die Jews or heretics, are burnt alive.[277] As these are leading out to punishment, the rest are carried back without any order, by their sureties, to the jail of the inquisition. This is the celebration of an act of faith in Portugal; or rather in that part of India which is subject to the Portugueze, as a Frenchman hath described it in his History of the Inquisition at Goa, who himself walked in procession at an act of faith, wearing the infamous Sambenito, and who accurately observed and described all the circumstances of it.

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Footnote 277:

I cannot here avoid giving my reader a more particular account of this
execution from Dr. Geddes, who himself was once present at it. His
words are these: “The prisoners are no sooner in the hands of the
civil magistrate, than they are loaded with chains, before the eyes of
the inquisitors; and being carried first to the secular jail, are,
within an hour or two, brought from thence, before the lord chief
justice, who without knowing any thing of their particular crimes, or
of the evidence that was against them, asks them, one by one, in what
religion they do intend to die? If they answer, that they will die in
the communion of the Church of Rome, they are condemned by him, to be
carried forthwith to the place of execution, and there to be first
strangled, and afterwards burnt to ashes. But if they say, they will
die in the Protestant, or in any other faith that is contrary to the
Roman, they are then sentenced by him, to be carried forthwith to the
place of execution, and there to be burnt alive.

“At the place of execution, which at Lisbon is the Ribera, there are
so many stakes set up as there are prisoners to be burnt, with a good
quantity of dry furze about them. The stakes of the professed, as the
inquisitors call them, may be about four yards high, and have a small
board, whereon the prisoner is to be seated, within half a yard of the
top. The negative and relapsed being first strangled and burnt, the
professed go up a ladder, betwixt the two jesuits, which have attended
them all day; and when they are come even with the forementioned
board, they turn about to the people, and the jesuits spend near a
quarter of an hour in exhorting the professed to be reconciled to the
Church of Rome; which, if they refuse to be, the jesuits come down,
and the executioner ascends, and having turned the professed off the
ladder upon the seat, and chained their bodies close to the stake, he
leaves them; and the jesuits go up to them a second time, to renew
their exhortation to them, and at parting tell them, that they leave
them to the devil, who is standing at their elbow to receive their
souls, and carry them with him into the flames of hell-fire, so soon
as they are out of their bodies. Upon this a great shout is raised,
and as soon as the jesuits are off the ladders, the cry is, ‘Let the
dogs beards, let the dogs beards be made;’ which is done by thrusting
flaming furzes, fastened to a long pole, against their faces. And this
inhumanity is commonly continued until their faces are burnt to a
coal, and is always accompanied with such loud acclamations of joy, as
are not to be heard upon any other occasion; a bull feast, or a farce,
being dull entertainments, to the using a professed heretic thus
inhumanly.

“The professed beards having been thus made, or trimmed, as they call
it in jollity, fire is set to the furze, which are at the bottom of
the stake, and above which the professed are chained so high, that the
top of the flame seldom reaches higher than the seat they sit on; and
if there happens to be a wind, to which that place is much exposed, it
seldom reaches so high as their knees: so that though, if there be a
calm, the professed are commonly dead in about half an hour after the
furze is set on fire; yet, if the weather prove windy, they are not
after that dead in an hour and a half, or two hours, and so are really
roasted, and not burnt to death. But though, out of hell, there cannot
possibly be a more lamentable spectacle than this, being joined with
the sufferers (so long as they are able to speak) crying out,
‘Miserecordia por amor de Dios, Mercy for the love of God;’ yet it is
beheld by people of both sexes, and all ages, with such transports of
joy and satisfaction, as are not on any other occasion to be met
with.” Dr. Gedde’s Tracts, vol. I. p. 447, &c. Thus far Dr. Geddes.

When Mr. Wilcox, afterwards the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of
Rochester, was minister to the English factory at Lisbon, he sent the
following letter to the then Bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Gilbert Burnet,
dated at Lisbon, Jan. 15, 1706, N. S. which I publish by his
lordship’s allowance and approbation, and which abundantly confirms
the foregoing account.

“My Lord,

“In obedience to your lordship’s commands, of the 10th ult. I have
here sent all that was printed concerning the last Auto de Fe. I saw
the whole process, which was agreeable to what is published by
Limborch and others upon that subject. Of the five persons condemned,
there were but four burnt; Antonio Tavanes, by an unusual reprieve,
being saved after the procession. Heytor Dias, and Maria Pinteyra,
were burnt alive, and the other two first strangled. The execution was
very cruel. The woman was alive in the flames half an hour, and the
man above an hour. The present king and his brothers were seated at a
window so near, as to be addressed to a considerable time, in very
moving terms, by the man as he was burning. But though the favour he
begged was only a few more faggots, yet he was not able to obtain it.
Those which are burnt alive here, are seated on a bench twelve feet
high, fastened to a pole, and above six feet higher than the faggots.
The wind being a little fresh, the man’s hinder parts were perfectly
wasted; and as he turned himself, his ribs opened before he left
speaking, the fire being recruited as it wasted, to keep him just in
the same degree of heat. But all his entreaties could not procure him
a larger allowance of wood to shorten his misery and dispatch him.”
Thus far the Letter.

How diabolical a religion must that be, which thus divests men of all
the sentiments of humanity and compassion, and hardens them against
all the miseries and sufferings of their fellow creatures! For as Dr.
Geddes observes, _ibid._ p. 450, “That the reader may not think that
this inhuman joy is the effect of a natural cruelty that is in these
peoples disposition, and not of the spirit of their religion, he may
rest assured, that all public malefactors besides heretics, have their
violent deaths no where more tenderly lamented than amongst the same
people, and even when there is nothing in the manner of their deaths
that appears inhuman or cruel.”

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The method of celebrating an act of faith in Spain, is somewhat different. For whereas at Goa the banner, which they carry before the procession hath the picture of Dominick wrought in it, Paramus says, that in Spain the cross is the banner of the inquisition, which is carried before them; and tediously tells us of several mysteries signified by the cross, of which I will here give a short summary.

The cross is the beginning and end of all acts of the inquisition; and by it is represented, that the tribunal of the inquisition is a representation of that supreme and final tribunal, in which the sign of the cross shall appear before the Lord Christ, coming to the judgement of the world with great majesty and glory. Farther, it denotes the war which the inquisition wages against heretics, and the victory which they gain over the enemies of the orthodox faith; because the inquisitors are appointed the conquerors of heretical pravity, and captains for the defence of religion, who keep watch at the castle of the inquisition for the Christian faith, repair it when going to ruin, restore it when tumbled down, and preserve it when restored in its ancient, flourishing and vigorous state.

The inquisition uses a green cross, that it may be more conveniently distinguished from those crosses of other colours, which are used by the Christian commonwealth; and especially that it may be shadowed out, that all things usually signified by greenness, belong to the inquisition. For instance, greenness denotes stability and eternity; it is a grateful, pleasant, and attractive colour to the eyes, and finally is a sign of victory and triumph. Hereby is shadowed forth, that the inquisitors of heretical pravity vigilantly preserve the stability of the church; and that heretics are attracted by the green cross, so that they cannot escape the judgment of this tribunal, and by beholding it are brought to the tender bosom of mother church, and drawn to repentance, and the sincerity of the faith.

The banner of the inquisition hath a green cross in a field sable, adorned on the right hand with a branch of green olive, and brandishing on the left a drawn sword, with this motto round about the scutcheon, “Exsurge, Domine, & judica causam tuam; Psal. lxxiv. 22. Arise, O Lord, and plead thy own cause.” The branch of green olive denotes the same as the green cross. But the branch of olive is on the right hand of the cross, and the sword on the left, to shew that in the inquisition mercy is mixed with justice; and the meaning of this mixture they derive from the ark of the tabernacle, in which, together with the tables, there was the rod and the manna, the rod of severity, and the manna of sweetness; as though the rod of Aaron which blossomed, was the rod with which judges command criminals to be whipped. The branch of olive at the right hand, signifies that nothing ought to be so strictly regarded by the inquisitors as mercy and clemency, which the olive most wonderfully shadows forth, which hath branches always green, and which endures storms much longer than any other trees, and if buried under water, is not so soon destroyed, nor doth so easily lose its verdure. The drawn sword brandishing on the left, points out that the inquisitors, after having tried in vain all methods of mercy, do then as it were unwillingly come to the use and drawing of the sword, which was given by God for the punishment of offenders. The field of sable, in the midst of which the green cross is placed, intimates the repentance of the criminals, and the sorrow they conceive on account of their sins; which, however, the green mitigates with the hope of pardon.

The motto round the scutcheon, “Exsurge Domine,” &c. marks out that the inquisitors, in expectation of the coming of the Lord, do in the mean while punish the wicked, that they may deter others, and defend the good.

But besides these things, there are other differences between the celebration of an act of faith in India and Spain. Gonsalvius tells us,[278] this solemn procession began in this manner at Seville. “In the first place went some school-boys, brought out of a certain college in which boys were taught, which they commonly call the house of teaching, who strike an awe upon others by their habit, singing, and order, in which they are kept by certain clergymen cloathed in surplices. They walk along singing the litanies of the saints, repeating them alternately, the chorus alternately answering,[279] “Ora pro nobis.” After these follow the prisoners themselves, commonly called penitentials, disposed as it were into several classes in this order. Next after the children walk those who are convicted of lesser faults. The tokens of their guilt are usually unlighted candles, halters about their necks, wooden bits, and paper mitres. They walk with their heads uncovered, that the mitre may not be concealed; and after the manner of slaves, without their cloak. Those who excel others in birth, or riches, follow after those who are meaner. Next to these march those who are cloathed with the Sambenito’s, or military mantles, marked across with the red cross; the same order being observed as above, according to the distinction of the persons. Those who are defiled in holy orders, as they are superior in dignity, so also are they in their place or rank in the procession. After these comes the third and last class, viz. of those who are appointed for the fire. Every prisoner is attended by two armed familiars, for his safe custody, one on each side of him; besides which, those who are to die have two monks or theatins, as they call them, walking by them. The whole council of the city, consisting of the alguazils, jurors, the judges of twenty-four degrees, the great officers of the court, the regent and viceroy himself, or his deputy, who are followed by a great number of nobility on horseback, immediately follow the classes of the prisoners, who, according to the custom of a triumph, ought certainly to march first. After these comes the ecclesiastical order, the clergy, beneficed persons, and curates walking first. Next after them walk the whole chapter of the principal church, which they commonly call the cabild of the greater church. Then the abbots and priors of the monks orders, with their attendants. All these walk before the holy tribunal to do honour to it, because, on that day, it openly triumphs. Between these and the next after there is a space left empty, in which the fiscal of the inquisition, who hath had no small share in gaining that victory to the holy tribunal, walks as standard-bearer in truly military pomp, displaying and opening the standard made of red damask silk. This standard is most curiously embroidered, having on one side of it the arms of that pope who granted the inquisition, with his name written at large; and on the other those of King Ferdinand, who first brought it into Spain. Every thing in it is wrought with silk, gold, and purple. Upon the very point of this banner is fastened a silver crucifix washed over with gold, of great value; to which the superstitious multitude pay a peculiar veneration, for this reason only, because it belongs to the inquisition. At length come the fathers of the faith themselves, with a slow pace, and profound gravity, truly triumphing, as becomes the principal generals of that victory. After them come all the familiars of the holy inquisition on horseback. Then an innumerable company of the common people and mob, without any order or character. In this pomp they march from the jail of the inquisition to the high and magnificent scaffold, which is built of wood, in the noblest and most capacious street of the city, for shewing the penitents to public view, and for hearing their sentences. On this scaffold they make them sit in the same order as they marched. There is also another scaffold almost as large as the former, over against it, in which is erected the tribunal of the lords inquisitors; where they sit in their inquisitorial, and almost divine majesty, attended with all that grandeur in which they came.”

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Footnote 278:

P. 135.

Footnote 279:

Pray for us.

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The king (if present) the queen and the whole court, and also the legates, and all the nobility of Spain, generally honour this solemnity with their presence. The seat of the inquisitor general is like a tribunal, raised above the king’s. When all are seated in their places, they begin with celebrating mass; but when the priest who officiates is come to about the middle of the service, he leaves the altar, and goes back to his proper place. Then the supreme inquisitor comes down from the scaffold, robed in all his ornaments; and making his reverences before the altar, ascends by several steps to the king, attended by some of the officers of the inquisition, who carry the crucifix and gospels, and the book in which is contained the oath, by which the king obliges himself to protect the Catholic faith, to the extirpation of heresies, and the defence of the inquisition. The king standing bare-headed, having on one side of him the constable of Castile, or one of the grandees of Spain, who holds up the sword of state, swears that he will keep the oath, which is publicly read over to him, by one of the members of the royal council; and remains in the same posture, till the supreme inquisitor goes back to his place. After this one of the secretaries of the inquisition goes into a desk, reads over the like oath, and takes it from the council, and the whole assembly. Then all the several sentences are read over, and the solemnity sometimes lasts till nine o’clock in the evening.

Criminals penitent and reconciled, and brought out in public procession, are carried back to their former jails in the holy office the same day in which the sentences are pronounced against them, and the day following are brought to an audience of the inquisitors, and are admonished of those things which are enjoined them by their sentences, and how grievously they will be punished, unless they humbly do the penances assigned them. After this, they send every one to the place to which his sentence ordered him. Those who are condemned to the gallies, are sent to the jails of the secular judges. Some are whipped through the principal streets of the city, and sometimes receive two hundred lashes. Others wear the infamous Sambenito; some every day, others must appear in them only sundays and holy days. But in these things every one observes the custom of his own inquisition. In the inquisition at Goa this is the method. Before the prisoners are dismissed, they are carried from jail to some other house, where they are every day instructed in the doctrines and rites of the Church of Rome; and when they are dismissed, every one hath a writing given him, containing the penances enjoined them; to which is added a command, that every one shall exactly keep secret every thing he hath seen, said or heard, and all the transactions relating to him, whether at the table, or in other places of the holy office. And to this secrecy every prisoner binds himself by a solemn oath.

The day after this solemnity also, the effigies of those condemned to death, painted to the life, are carried to the dominican’s church, and there hung up to be viewed by all. The custom in this matter is described by Ludovicus a Paramo.[280] “There is another monument of infamy, which, though vulgarly called by the Spaniards Sambenito, yet is not a garment, but a cloth affixed to the walls of the churches for perpetual infamy in the parishes where they lived. On this cloth is written the name and surname of the criminal, and the business he carried on is also expressed. If he discovers any farther, they add another little piece to the cloth to prevent doubt, describing his country, and oftentimes also the parents and grandfathers of the condemned person.

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Footnote 280:

L. 2. t. 2. c. 5. n. 9, 10, 11.

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“In some of these cloths may be read who were the parents of the criminals, of what race they were; whether they were married, or if married women, whose wives they were; whether lately recovered to the Christian religion, from the Jewish law and Mahometan sect. Finally, the cause of their penance is declared according to the nature of their crime, viz. that he was an arch-heretic, a dogmatist, a declared heretic, an heretical apostate, a feigned penitent, negative and obstinate, an impenitent and relapsed heretic, a Lutheran, Anabaptist, Calvinist, Martianist heretic, even though they died before condemnation. Besides this inscription, there is also painted the mark which is usually put on living penitents, as is above explained. In the ancient cloths, which have not yet been repaired, one may see an upright cross. Besides these already mentioned, other things may be seen in them; for in some the person and crime is omitted, and this one word only written without the picture, ‘Combustus,’ burnt. On the clothes of such as are reconciled, this word only, without any cross or mark, ‘Reconciliatus,’ reconciled. Sometimes the date of the year is wanting. Sometimes the flames are painted without any inscription, so that the criminal cannot possibly be known. However, these monuments of infamy and disgrace are not to be fixed up to render those infamous, who are reconciled during the time of indulgence and grace. For as it was agreed with them, that they should not wear such infamous habits, nor be cloathed with them during the time of their reconciliation, it would be contrary to reason and justice to hang them up, because it would be wholly to destroy the favour granted them. This constitution is observed in all the kingdoms and dominions of the King of Spain, except in Sicily; where, in the year 1543, when the licentiate Cervera was inquisitor there, there was a very great commotion at Palermo, when the people rose against the holy inquisition, and tore off the infamous cloths from the walls of the church dedicated to St. Dominic, with so great a fury and rage, that they could never, to this day, fix them up again upon the walls either of that, or any other church.”

Thus far we have described the method of proceeding observed in the inquisition; and if we attentively consider it, and compare it with the usual method of proceeding in all other courts, we shall find it to be a series and connection of injustice and cruelties, and subversive of all laws, both divine and human.

The Papists usually recommend to their own people this tribunal as an holy one, and call the inquisition the holy office. But if we consider it thoroughly, we shall find it is all disguise, by which they endeavour to palliate and cover over the villany and injustice of this court. I will not now undertake to shew that the causes which are managed before this tribunal are not subject to human judgment, but belong to the tribunal of God, and his son Christ: for God only, the supreme Lord of all, who can save, and can destroy, can prescribe the laws of salvation and damnation: He only, as omniscient and searcher of hearts, can pronounce an infallible judgment of every one’s faith, which lies concealed in his mind, and which he may dissemble by words or actions, and hath admitted no man as partner with himself in this power. From hence it evidently follows, that it is a sacrilegious violation of the divine majesty and laws, in that the pope of Rome arrogates to himself the judgment of the faith, prescribes laws of believing to the faithful, erects the tribunal of an inquisition, sends every where inquisitors as judges delegated by him, who, in his name, and by a power granted by him, are to inquire into the faith of all, and punish those who are not in all things obedient to the pope. Nor will I here examine that villainous doctrine, by which they teach that heretics are to be deprived of all power, so that faith is not to be kept with them; subjects are not bound by their oath of allegiance and fidelity: that the husband or wife, for the heresy of either, is freed from the laws of matrimony, and even children from obedience to their parents: for it is fully evident, that this doctrine subverts all laws, divine and human.

I will only, in a few words, represent the principal iniquities and instances of injustice of this tribunal; in which, as to the reason and method of proceeding in favour of the faith, it differs from the laws and customs of all other courts; whereby things evidently unjust in other tribunals, are in this accounted just. I shall not indeed mention all, but the chief only, and most remarkable instances, as specimens of the rest.

I. The first is, that the inquisitors, by publishing an edict of the faith, oblige all, under the penalty of excommunication, to inform before them of every one of whom they suspect of heresy, for the slightest cause; so that not only a relation is bound to accuse his relation, a brother his brother, and by this information to bring him into danger of being burnt, the most horrible of all punishments; but even a wife her husband: yea, what destroys all the laws of nature, a son, according to the opinion of many doctors, is bound to inform against his father, if a secret heretic.

II. A second instance of injustice, is their condemning a person defamed only for heresy, to make canonical purgation, i. e. to purge himself with seven, more or less, compurgators; so that if he fails in one, two or three, he is accounted guilty, for thus the life and torture of any one depends on the will and pleasure of another.

III. A third is, that in this office every one, though excluded by other courts, is admitted for a witness, a mortal enemy only excepted.

IV. To this may be added a fourth, that the names of the witnesses are not shewn to the prisoner, nor is any circumstance discovered to him by which he can come to the knowledge of the witnesses.

V. A fifth instance of injustice is, that if two unexceptionable witnesses, who yet must ever be liable to exception, because unknown to the criminal, testify of different facts, yea, sometimes if there be one only, yea, if but a mere report, they think it enough to order to the torture.

VI. A sixth instance is, that they would have persons informed against become their own accusers: for as soon as ever any one is thrown into jail, he is bound by an oath to declare the truth.

VII. A seventh instance is, that the inquisitors use various arts to draw out a confession from the prisoners, by making them deceitful promises, which, when they have got the confession, they do not believe themselves obliged to fulfil; that so the prisoner being destitute of all human assistance and comfort, and seeing no end to his miseries, may, through the art and fraud of the inquisitor, have no possible way left to defend himself, and yet in the mean while these wretches affect the appearance of justice, and grant the criminals an advocate and proctor to manage their cause. But in this the prisoner is miserably deceived.

VIII. And this is an eighth specimen of their injustice, because the advocate granted to him is given him only to betray him. For he may not choose such an advocate as he himself approves of, nor is it lawful for the advocate to defend the prisoner, unless he would be accounted as a favourer of heresy; but the inquisition itself assigns him his advocate, bound to them by an oath, whose principal business is to persuade the criminal to confess the crime he is accused of, not to use any methods of defence not practised in the court of the inquisition, and immediately to quit his defence, if he cannot defend him according to the laws of the inquisition.

IX. A ninth is, that when the crimes cannot be proved against the prisoner, he is not absolved from the crime of which he is accused, but only from prosecution; and all the declaration that is made, is that the crime against him is not proved by proper witnesses; and this sentence is never taken for an adjudged case. So that he who is once informed against to the inquisition, although he be innocent, and his crime cannot be proved according to the received manner of the inquisition, though indeed, according to that manner, all crimes of which there is but the least suspicion may be easily proved; yet he is never blotted out of the inquisitors book or index, but his name is there preserved in perpetual remembrance of his being a suspected person, that if he should happen to be informed against for heresy at any other time, these latter informations added to the former may amount to a real proof; and that although he is dismissed from jail by the sentence of the judge, he may never be able to live in safety, but that being always suspected by the inquisitor, he may be arrested for the same crime which ought to have been forgotten, upon the fresh information of some vile and wicked fellow.

X. A tenth, and that not the least instance of injustice, is their readiness to put persons to the torture, and that to discover a secret crime, lying concealed in the mind; yea, that they will use the torture so much the sooner, because the crime is more concealed than other crimes.

XI. The eleventh is, their putting persons to the torture upon half full proof of the crime. This half full proof is faultering, defamation, and one witness of his own knowledge, or when the tokens are vehement and violent. All these things are subject to the pleasure of the judge. So that if any one falls into the hands of a cruel inquisitor, and faulters in his answer, or is informed against by one witness, who declares he was present at the action or words he gives information of, he cannot possibly escape the torture, nor consequently the punishment of the crime he is accused of, considering the violence of the torments. Nor is this all; but as there may be some facts occasioned not so much by heresy concealed in the mind, as by carnal concupiscence or rashness, they will have such to be tortured for their intention, and force them by torments to confess they had an heretical intention in their mind.

XII. A twelfth is, that when they prepare themselves for the torture, they gravely and seriously admonish the criminal to speak nothing but the truth, and to confess nothing that is not agreeable to truth to avoid the tortures. By this means they put on the appearance of sincerity, as though they sought nothing but the naked truth, that when the torture is finished they may be very secure that the tortured person hath confessed a real crime, because they have seriously and gravely admonished him to say nothing contrary to truth. In the mean while they suppose, that the crime objected against him is real, and endeavour to force from him a confession by torture, and threaten to double his torments unless he confesses; so that if he denies the crime, his torments are aggravated; if he confesses it, his torments are soon ended. Hence it appears, that their design is not honestly to find out the truth by torture, but that they suppose the crime is real, although according to the laws of the inquisition it be only half proved, and then extort a confession of it.

XIII. A thirteenth is, that whereas in other courts the number is certainly fixed how often the torture may be repeated, they have invented a method of torturing persons very often, without offending against the law, which provides that the tortures shall not be repeated above twice or thrice. If, for instance, they make use of the lesser tortures, and the prisoner confesses nothing, they afterwards make use of more grievous ones, then proceed to such as are more cruel, till at different intervals of time they have gone through all the several kinds of tortures. And this they do not call a repetition, but only a continuation of the torture; so that if any one hath been several times tortured, but with a different kind of torture each time, and hath thus at certain distances gone through all the kinds of torture, according to the opinion of these merciful casuists, he ought to be accounted as tortured only once.

XIV. A fourteenth is, that when they deliver condemned persons to the secular arm, they intercede for them, that their punishment may be so moderated as to prevent shedding of blood, or danger of death. And in the mean while, if the magistrate is not ready to burn the heretics, or delays the punishment, they oblige him, under penalty of excommunication, to execute the sentence. The superstitious wretches are afraid they should become irregular, by delivering a criminal to the secular magistrate without intercession, and yet are not afraid of becoming irregular, by compelling the magistrate under penalty of excommunication to murder those whom they have condemned. Can any thing be more evident, than that this is nothing more than acting a part, and an affectation to be thought by the people to have no hand in the murder of which they are really the authors?

XV. The last instance I shall mention, appears in their ridiculous process against the dead, whose relations and heirs they cite, to appear on such a day to defend, if they can and will, the memory of the dead. Whereas they themselves have made it a law, that if any one appears in defence of an heretic, he shall be accounted as a favourer of heretics himself, and condemned as such, and have no advocate or procurator to defend himself. So that they cite all persons to defend the memory of the dead, and yet deter all persons from such defence by a most grievous punishment, appointed against the favourers of heretics. So that all this is like their intercession for criminals, mere imposture and sham. Then they provide an advocate to manage the cause, bound to them under an oath, and he publicly declares he cannot defend the memory of the deceased. So that as no one undertakes his defence, the accusations against him are reckoned just, the proofs legal, and the deceased is condemned for heresy. But what greater instance of injustice can there be, than to condemn a person as convicted, whose defence no one dares undertake, without running the hazard of his fortune and life.

If any one considers these things, which I have mentioned as specimens only, he will find no sanctity in the court of the inquisition; but must acknowledge, that in the whole method of proceeding there is nothing but injustice, fraud, impostures, and the most accursed hypocrisy; by which the inquisitors, under the feigned pretence of sanctity, endeavour to disguise the villany of their proceedings, that so they may maintain their dominion over the miserable common people, and keep them all in subjection to themselves. And though they do every thing that is wicked and vile, yet they would have all adore them for the venerable character of sanctity.

It is needless to mention here more instances of their cruelty: I shall say all in a few words. The miseries of the jail, in which the prisoners are generally confined by themselves for several years, shut up in darkness, without being allowed any human converse, are so great, the cruelty of their torments so severe, and their punishments so exquisite, that they greatly exceed the cruelty of all other courts: for persons are not only burnt alive, but their mouths gagged, so that they have not the liberty to groan or cry out in those most horrible tortures; and by thus stopping up their mouths, they are in such an agony, as that they are almost strangled. But their cruelty towards the penitent and converted is most detestable: for whereas the church ought, with open arms, to embrace penitents, in imitation of the shepherd who carried the lost sheep on his shoulders, and brought it home to the sheepfold, these wretches enjoin the most grievous punishments on those whose lives they spare, which with them are only wholesome penances. For they condemn them either to wear the infamous Sambenito, or to imprisonment, or the gallies, whereby their very life is oftentimes a punishment to them; whilst others are denied the very hopes of life, especially the relapsed, who are condemned to death without mercy, though they convert themselves. And yet the sacraments are given to those who are reconciled to the church when they desire it; and thus before they are put to death they become members of the church, put in a state of salvation, and by the priests themselves most certainly assured of an heavenly crown. Can there be any greater cruelty, and more abhorrent from the spirit of Christianity, than to punish with death an erroneous person who repents, detests his error, and is now reconciled to the church? But the ecclesiastical sanctions must be satisfied, and the authority of the church preserved entire, though the laws of Jesus Christ, and the commands of the gospel are trampled under foot.

All these iniquities are committed according to the very laws of the inquisition. Many things are indeed, in the execution of this office, left to the pleasure of the inquisitors, which power they often villainously abuse, as appears from their daily practice, and innumerable instances; for it was the common complaint of all nations against the inquisition, what Thuanus tells us[281] was the complaint of the Neapolitans: “That the perverse and preposterous form of trials increased the horror, because it was contrary to natural equity, and to every legal method in carrying on that jurisdiction. Add to this the inhumanity of their tortures, by which they violently extorted from the miserable and innocent criminals, that they might deliver themselves from their torment, whatsoever the delegated judges would have them confess, though generally contrary to truth. And for this reason it was justly said, that it was invented not for the sake of defending religion, which the primitive church had provided for by a quite different method, but that by this means they might strip all men of their fortunes, and bring innocent persons into danger of being destroyed.”

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Footnote 281:

Hist. l. 3.

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The papists indeed glory, that the inquisition is the most certain remedy to extirpate heresies. And because the inquisition is so effectual a method to extirpate heresies, Ludovicus a Paramo[282] gathers from thence that it was ordained for this purpose by the most wise providence of God. But what is really unjust in itself, and carried on by unjust methods, cannot have God for its author; nor is success any argument that the inquisition is from God. The first inquiry is, whether it be suitable to the nature of the Christian doctrine? If it be not, it is then unjust and anti-christian. Many things are unrighteously undertaken, by men, and accomplished by violence and cruelty, by which innocence is oppressed; which, although God in his just and wise counsel permits, he is far from approving. Even in Japan, a cruel persecution hath extinguished the Christian religion, as preached by the Roman priests; so that the Roman Catholic religion is equally extinguished there by the violence of persecutions, as those doctrines are in Spain, which are contrary to the church of Rome, and which they render odious by the infamous name of heresy. And yet they will not allow that any just argument can be drawn from hence, to prove that that persecution was given by divine Providence, as a most effectual remedy for the extirpation of their religion. If other parties of Christians would use the same diligence and cruelty of inquisition against them, I may venture to affirm, that they themselves could not withstand it: but that within a few years the popish religion would be extinguished in all Protestant countries, and scarce a single person left who would dare to profess it. But God forbid that the Christian religion should ever be propagated this way, which doth not consist in a feigned and hypocritical profession, but in a sincere and undissembled faith. And therefore, as no one ought to assume to himself the power of judging concerning it, but God the searcher of hearts, to him only let us leave it to pass the true judgment concerning every man’s belief. Let us in the mean while detest the tyranny of the papists; and strive to reduce those who, in our judgment, hold errors, into the way of truth, by the good offices of charity and benevolence, without arrogating to ourselves a judgment over the consciences of others. And out of a serious regard to the last great day of judgment, let us approve our consciences to God: and every one of us, expecting from his mercy an equitable and righteous judgment, pray without ceasing: “ARISE, O LORD, AND PLEAD THY OWN CAUSE.”

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Footnote 282:

L. 2. t. 3. c. 4, 5.

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OF THE PRESENT STATE OF
THE INQUISITION AT GOA,

_Taken from the Rev. Dr. BUCHANAN’s “Christian Researches in Asia.”_

THE ROMISH CHRISTIANS IN INDIA.

In every age of the Church of Rome there have been individuals, of an enlightened piety, who derived their religion not from “the commandments of men,” but from the doctrines of the Bible. There are at this day, in India and in England, members of that communion, who deserve the affection and respect of all good men; and whose cultivated minds will arraign the corruptions of their own religion, which the author is about to describe, more severely than he will permit himself to do. He is indeed prepared to speak of Roman Catholics with as much liberality as perhaps any Protestant has ever attempted on Christian principles: for he is acquainted with individuals, whose unaffected piety he considers a reproach to a great body of Protestants, even of the strictest sort. It is indeed painful to say any thing which may seem to feeling and noble minds ungenerous; but those enlightened persons, whose good opinion it is desirable to preserve, will themselves be pleased to see that truth is not sacrificed to personal respect, or to a spurious candour. Their own church sets an example of “plainness of speech” in the assertion of those tenets which it professes, some of which must be extremely painful to the feeling of Protestants, in their social intercourse with Catholics; such as, “That there is no salvation out of the pale of the Romish church.”

This exclusive character prevents concord and intimacy between Protestant and Catholic families. On the principles of infidelity they can associate very easily; but on the principles of religion, the Protestant must ever be on the _defensive_; for the Romish church excommunicates him: and although he must hope that some individuals do not maintain the tenet, yet his uncertainty as to the fact prevents that cordiality which he desires. Many excellent Catholics suffer unjustly in their intercourse with Protestants, from the ancient and exclusive articles of their own church, which they themselves neither profess nor believe. If they will only intimate to their Protestant friends, that they renounce the exclusive principle, and that they profess the religion of the Bible, no more seems requisite to form with such persons the sincerest friendship on Christian principles.

At the present time we see the Romish religion in Europe _without_ dominion; and hence it is viewed by the mere philosopher with indifference or contempt. He is pleased to see, that the “seven heads and the ten horns” are taken away; and thinks nothing of the “names of blasphemy.” But in the following pages, the author will have occasion to shew what Rome is, as _having_ dominion; and possessing it too within the boundaries of the British Empire.

In passing through the Romish provinces in the East, though the author had before heard much of the Papal corruptions, he certainly did not expect to see Christianity in the degraded state in which he found it. Of the priests it may truly be said, that they are, in general, better acquainted with the Veda of Brahma than with the Gospel of Christ. In some places the doctrines of both are blended. At Aughoor, situated between Tritchinopoly and Madura, he witnessed (in October 1806) the Tower of Juggernaut employed to solemnize a Christian festival. The old priest Josephus accompanied him, when he surveyed the idolatrous car and its painted figures, and gave him a particular account of the various ceremonies which are performed, seemingly unconscious himself of any impropriety in them. The author went with him afterwards into the church, and seeing a book lying on the altar, opened it; but the reader may judge of his surprize, when he found it was a Syriac volume, and was informed that the priest himself was a descendant of the Syrian Christians, and belonged to what is now called the Syro-Roman Church, the whole service of which is in Syriac.—Thus, by the intervention of the papal power, are the ceremonies of Moloch consecrated in a manner by the sacred Syriac language. What a heavy responsibility lies on Rome, for having thus corrupted and degraded that pure and ancient church!

While the author viewed these Christian corruptions in different places, and in different forms, he was always referred to the Inquisition at Goa, as the fountain-head. He had long cherished the hope, that he should be able to visit Goa before he left India. His chief objects were the following: