170 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



stake, over which the criminals are chained so 

 high, that the top of the flame seldom reaches 

 higher than the seat they sit on ; so that they 

 Beem to be roasted rather than burned. There 

 cannot be a more lamentable spectacle ; the suf 

 ferers continually cry out, while they are able, 

 &quot; Pity, for the love of God ;&quot; yet it is beheld by 

 all sexes and ages, with transports of joy and 

 satisfaction ; and even the monarch, surrounded 

 by his courtiers, has sometimes graced the scene 

 with his presence, imagining that he was per 

 forming an act highly acceptable to the Deity ! !* 

 And what are the heinous crimes for which 

 such dreadful punishments are prepared ? Per 

 haps nothing more than reading a book which 

 has been denounced as heretical by the holy 

 office, such as &quot; Raynal s History of the Indies,&quot; 

 assuming the title of a freemason irritating 

 a priest or mendicant friar uttering the lan 

 guage of freethinkers declaiming against the 

 celibacy of the clergy insinuating hints or sus 

 picions respecting their amours and debauche 

 ries or throwing out a joke to the dishonour of 

 the Virgin Mary,| or, at most, holding the 

 sentiments of a Mahometan, of a Jew, or the 

 followers ofCalvin or Luther. In the year 1725, 

 the Inquisition discovered a family of Moors at 

 Grenada, peaceably employed in manufacturing 

 silks, and possessing superior skill in the exer 

 cise of this profession. The ancient laws, sup 

 posed to have fallen into disuse, were enforced 

 in all their rigour, and the wretched family was 

 burnt alive.\ On the entry of the French into 

 Toledo, during the late Peninsular war, General 

 Lasalle visited the palace of the Inquisition. 

 The great number of instruments of torture, 

 especially the instruments to stretch the limbs, 

 and the drop-baths, which cause a lingering 

 death, excited horror, even in the minds of sol 

 diers hardened in the field of battle = One of 

 these instruments, singular in its kind for refined 

 torture, and disgraceful to humanity and religion, 

 deserves particular description. In a subterra 

 neous vault adjoining to the audience chamber, 

 stood, in a recess in the wall, a wooden statue 

 made by the hands of monks, representing the 

 Virgin Mary. A gilded glory beamed round her 

 head, and she held a standard in her right hand. 

 Notwithstanding the ample folds of the silk gar 

 ment which fell from her shoulders on both sides, 

 it appeared that she wore a breastplate ; and, 



* See Ency. Brit. Art. Act of faith, and Inquisition, 

 and Bourgoing s &quot; Modern state of Spain,&quot; Vol. I. 

 The &quot; Instructions for the office of the holy Inquisi 

 tion given at Tobda in 1561,&quot; may be seen in the Ap- 

 pcndir to &quot; Peyron s Essays on Spain. which forms 

 the fourth volume of Bourgoing s worK. 



1 The Chevalier de St. Gervais, was imprisoned in 

 the Inquisition on the following occasion. A men 

 dicant having come to his chamber, with a purse, 

 beeged him to contribute something for the lights 

 or tapers to be lighted in nonour of the Virgin, he 

 replied, &quot; My good father, the Virgin lias no need of 

 Jights, she need only go to bed at an earlier hour.&quot; 



I Bo irgoing s State of Spain, Vol. I. p. 349. 



upon a closer examination, it was found, that th 

 whole front of the body was covered with ex 

 tremely sharp nails, and small daggers, or blades 

 of knive6, with the points projecting outwards. 

 The arms and hands had joints, and their mo 

 tions were directed by machinery, placed behind 

 the partition. One of the servants of the Inqui 

 sition was ordered to make the machine ma 

 noeuvre. As the statue extended its arms, and. 

 gradually drew them back, as if she would affec 

 tionately embrace, and press some one to her 

 heart, the well-filled knapsack of a Polish grena 

 dier supplied for this time the place of the poor 

 victim. The statue pressed it closer and closer ; 

 and when the director of the machinery made it 

 open its arms and return to its first position, the 

 knapsack was pierced two or three inches deep, 

 and remained hanging upon the nails and dag 

 gers of the murderous instrument. 



This infamous tribunal is said to have caused, 

 between the years 1481 and 1759, 34.658 per 

 sons to be burnt alive ; and between 1481 and 

 1808, to have sentenced 288,214 to the galleys, 

 or to perpetual imprisonment.* In the Auto o t 

 Toledo, in February, 1501, 67 women were de 

 livered over to the flames for Jewish practices. 

 The same punishment was inflicted on 900 fe 

 males for being witches, in the Dutchy of Lor 

 raine, by one Inquisitor alone. Under this ac 

 cusation, upwards of thirty thousand women have 

 perished by the hands of the Inquisition. f Tor- 

 quemada, that infernal inquisitor of Spain, 

 brought into the Inquisition, in the space of 14 

 years, no fewer than 80,000 persons ; of whom 

 6000 were condemned to the flames, and burned 

 alive with the greatest pomp and exultation ; and, 

 of that vast number, there was perhaps not a 

 single person who was not more pure in religion, 

 as well as morals, than their outrageous perse 

 cutors. | Has the Deity, then, whdm the Inqui 

 sition professes to serve, such a voracious appetite 

 for the blood of human victims ? Has that be 

 nevolent Being, who maketh his sun to cheer the 

 habitations of the wicked as well as of the righ 

 teous, and whose &quot; tender mercies are over all 

 his works&quot; commissioned such bloodthirsty 

 monsters to act as his ministers of vengeance, and 

 to torment and destroy the rational creatures he 

 has formed ? The very thought is absurd and 

 blasphemous in the highest degree. All his be 

 neficent operations in creation around us, and all 

 the gracious promises and declarations of his 

 word, stand directly opposed to such hellish prac 

 tices, and condemn the perpetrators as audacious 

 rebels against the divine government, and as nui 

 sances in the universe of God. 



The numerous Massacres which, in different 

 ages, have taken place, on account of religious 



* Histoire Abreg&amp;lt;?e de 1 Inquisition. 

 t&amp;lt;( The Inquisition Unmasked.&quot; By Antonio 

 Puigblanch. 

 I Kaim s Sketches, Vol. iV. 



