1824.] 
and Portugal,wherein he only sanction- 
ed the numerous errors then in circula- 
tion. About the same time, the respec- 
table canon Lliorente was employed in 
making the most minute researches, 
in the Archives of the Inquisition, of 
‘which he had been appointed’ secre- 
tary, intending to present the public 
with an authentic history of that insti- 
tution, and its acts. This work, so 
remarkable in all respects, appeared 
in 1817, under the title of “A Critical 
History of the Spanish Inquisition.” 
The author received ample satisfac- 
tion, in the proportionate success 
which attended it; and, his name being 
connected with the publication of 
such an history, a niche, at least, will 
be tenanted by him in the Temple of 
Fame. His facts are stated fairly, 
and. his observations dictated with 
eandor; of course his merits will be 
appreciated by the benelits he has 
conferred on mankind. 
This work consists of four large 
volumes, in octavo: from its magni- 
tude and. price, it is not within the 
reach of readers in general, and an 
abridgment has therefore become ne- 
cessary. This article will only treat of 
the Spanish Inquisition; we may con- 
sider it as the great exemplar, in the 
application of its doctrines to practice, 
which has been followed by many 
others in different parts,—Italy, Por- 
tugal, America, and the Indies. 
o sooner was the Christian religion 
established, than heresies sprang up in 
the church. There were never more 
sectaries, or reputed sectaries, than 
in the first ages; and they had always 
bishops and archbishops at their head. 
In those times appeared, successively, 
the Gnostics, who held that faith was 
sufficient, without good works; the 
Nicolaitans, who pleaded for a com- 
munity of wives; the Arians, who 
denied the consubstantiality, or the 
equal substance, of the Son with the 
Father in the Trinity; the Apollina- 
rists, who maintained that Jesus had 
not assumed a_ body of flesh, like 
ours, or a reasonable soul; the Nesto- 
rians, who asserted that Mary was not 
the mother of God; the Monothelites, 
contending for one sole will in Jesus 
Christ; the Teonoclasts, who refused 
worship to images; the Montanists, 
who pretended to a discipline divinely 
inspired, more perfect than that of the 
* ostles; the Pelagians, whose system 
free will tended to render void the 
phil of grace ; the Manicheans, 
Montury Mas. No. 390. 
Progress of the Inquisition. 
505 
who established two principles, bene- 
ficent and maleficent; the Donatists, 
who professed to be the only true 
church; the Priscillianists, who held 
the human soul to be of the:same sub- 
stance as God; and the Macedonians, 
who denied the divinity of the Holy 
Spirit: these were the principal, but 
there were other sccts, distinguishable 
both by their numbers and diversity. 
During the first three ages of the 
church, and till the peace of Constan- 
tine, only mild and humane methods 
were resorted to with heretics; cor- 
poral punishments were unknown, 
and excommunication was only em- 
ployed in obstinate cases, after all the 
means of persuasion had failed. But 
the popes and bishops of the fourth 
century, imitating the conduct for 
which they had reproached the Pagan 
priests, found means to get civil laws 
established against -heretics. These 
penalties, from the fourth to the 
eighth century, consisted in marks of 
infamy, the privation of honours and 
employments, the confiscation © of 
goods, the prohibition of making or of 
succeeding to legacies, and paying 
fines, more or less considerable. 
The. popes proceeded to solicit other 
punishments more severe; such as 
fustigation, and ‘transportation cr. 
exile. The Manicheans and Donatists 
were the only heretics punishable with 
death, from the troubles which they 
fave rise to in Africa and at Rome. 
Under the imperial judges, a volun- 
tary abjuration of heresy secured from 
ail farther prosecution; the bishops 
had not then attained judiciary 
powers, except in particular cases. 
The church of Spain, at the fourth 
council of Toledo, decreed, in con- 
currence with King Sisenand, that 
Judaising heretics should be placed 
under the control of the bishops, to: be 
by -them chastised, and constrained to 
abandon Judaism. The penalties 
against those who from Christianity 
relapsed into idolatry; were propor- 
tioned to the quality of the delinquent: 
excommunication and exile, if of no- 
ble race; confiseation of goods and 
scourging, if of low condition. 
During this second epoch of church 
history, the ecclesiastics obtained from 
the emperors and kings a great num- 
ber of privileges. In due time appear- 
edthe false Decretals, consecrated by 
the ignorance that universally pre- 
vailed. By these Decretals, the Roman 
pontifis acquired such an ascendant 
3T over 
