EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



would thus have inflicted upon it the doom of 

 stagnation like that which has overtaken the 

 Mohammedan world ; after this state of things 

 had been reached, in the course of the thirteenth 

 century, then symptoms of dissent began to 

 manifest themselves, vague murmurs, which 

 heralded the great Protestant storm that was 

 gathering. It was in the thirteenth century that 

 the Church thought it necessary to desecrate the 

 noble enthusiasm which had inspired the Cru- 

 sades, by employing it to crush out heresy with 

 fire and sword in the southern parts of France, 

 thus beginning that detestable scheme of rob- 

 bing the French nation of its nimblest minds 

 and strongest characters, which was continued 

 in scenes like the St. Bartholomew, and was 

 consummated in the infamous dragonnades of 

 1685. It was in the thirteenth century, too, that 

 the Spanish mind hit upon that ingenious device 

 of the Inquisition, whereby all speculative 

 originality was to be effectually extinguished in 

 so-called " acts-of-faith," to the proper perform- 

 ance of which an abundant supply of fire-wood 

 was the principal requisite. These new develop- 

 ments of the persecuting spirit show how for- 

 midable the spirit of dissent was then becoming. 

 This spirit of dissent, both at that time and in 

 later days, was fond of assuming the form of a 

 protest against the pagan corruptions of the 

 Church, and in behalf of a return to the sim- 

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