The Irish standard., 1894-04-21
THE INQUISlTION.
A Very Able and Convincing De.
fence Of the Church In Thie
--.s Connection.
VIEWED IN ITS PROPERLIGHT

= e,.s.. X
VIEWED IN ITS PROPERLIGHT
Hundreds Of the Condemned Saved
| From Death Through Rome's
vs. Intervention.
A most able and convincing defence Of
the Catholic Church in relation to the
Spanish inquisition was delivered by
Rev. F. Lynch, M. r., recently, befose q
large congregation at st. Wilfid's
church, Manchester, England. Owing
to the higher ,truer and more philosophio
study of history and the better arrange-
ment Of historical facts, said the reSSsr4
end preacher, they were now able 10. view
the Inquisition in proper light, and. in
this field Of historical inquiry Protestant
historians had done quite as much, il
not more, than Catholics to deal the
death-blow to the popular superstition
which regarded the Inqu1sition as a
vague but terrible tribunal erected in
Spain in the days of darkness and ignor-
ance to remorselessly and mercijessly
| persecute men for their honest opinions,
and from whose prying eyes and unjust
decisions no mans life or property was
safe. Now what were the facts? ~
The Spanish Inquisition was tribunal
established in Spain for the trial of y4ri-
GUS ofenses, among others the offense 81
heresy. The accused was tried before
the judicial committee of the Inquisi-
tion, and if found guilty he was cen
demned to punishment, and in some
cases was even burnt to death. This In
QUESTION, such as they knew it, vases.
tablished by Ferdinand and Isabella in
1918, by virtue Of decree Of Pope Sir.
tus Nv. immediately after it's institu.
tion the Spanish King and Queen sought
to make this tribunal purely 9 .Statesir
Istitution. 1t was quite true that the In:
quisitors, the judges and chief officials,
many of them were ecclesiastics, but
nevertheless it was a purely SECULAR and
State tribunal, and in consequence OF it's
abuse in l48l, three years after it's insti-
tuition, the same Pope, Sixtus w., wrote
TO the Spanish monarchs entreating
them 'by the mercy of Jesus Christ" not
to he so cruel.
In the year 1886 the famous Tor infa-
mous) Torquemada obtained the office OF
Chief Inquisitor, and Cor sixteen years he
strained every nerve to carry out the
wishes of the Spanish Government. For
the two centuries the Inquisition existed
in all it's power in Spain many an inno-
cent man suffered the loss of goods and
even life by it's unjust decisions. In 1881
the last man condemned to death by this
tribunal suffered that extreme penalty.
Then the consent Of the King became
necessary not merely to the capital pun
ishment, but even for mans arrest, and
the powers of the Inqulsition were sub
sequently curbed and restricted, until, in
1884, it was formally abolished by royal
decree, never more to raise it's head in
the fair land of Spain. But why, it
might be asked, should any man be i'm.
prisoned, punished and burned at the
stake for his opinions?
Well, suppose a sect arose even in
these days, which taught that it was not
merely lawful, but great duty to mur-
der baptized infants in order that their
souls might be sure OF heaven. So long
as man retained this belief as mere
opinion he ought not to be molested.
But suppose that man went further, put
his opinion into practice and proceeded
to murder his own or his nelghbor's chill
dren, was there any one who would not
say that such man should not be
hanged? Well, one sect of heretics held
this belief. Passing from extreme cases,
there was sect in England which be-
lieved that any recourse to medical aid
/ in sickness was entirely unlawful as con-
travening the providence and power Of
the Almighty. Their conscientious opin-
ion impelled them to allow poor, help
less child to die that might be easily
saved by calling in doctor. Members
of that sect had been summoned before
the magistrate ana even imprisoned for
carrying out their creed. II such a one
allowed his child to die, who would say
that he could shelter himself before an
English tribunal with the defense that
he had a religious opinion that it was
wrong to cali in doctor? Such anan
deserved punishment because the limo.
cent and helpless suffered from his wrong
religious convictions.
The Army Of the Lord, which appeared
| in some Of the towns, in the south Of
England, having it's headquarters at
Brighton, one OF the leaders Of which
called himself King Solomon, one King
David and another Joshua, pretended to