First, Our holy father the Pope, extended his power, established his authority, and aggrandized his patrimony.

2d. The christian princes bowed their necks cheerfully to the yoke which he was pleased to impose upon them, and got so thoroughly seasoned that it never galled them henceforth.

3d. The hatred which a good catholic ought to have for all heretics and infidels, took such deep root that it can never be completely eradicated.

4th. Ignorance and simplicity, the basis of all virtues, were carried to the highest pitch.

5th. The progress of science and reason, the most powerful weapons of the devil, were retarded as much as they could possibly be.

6th. Europe was liberated of several millions of men which crouded its soil.

7th. The monks bought one half of the lands of the croises, much under their intrinsic value, and obtained the other half for nothing.

8th. Those very croises by their unparelleled zeal obtained the forgivness of their numberless sins.

9th. Finally the wrath of heaven was appeased by the tears and groans of four thousand families, robbed, ruined, and forsaken; by the ashes of the towns which were burnt down, and by the smoke of the provinces which were ravag ed by the shrieks of the virgins who were ravished, and by the death of the numberless jews, infidels and heretics, who were put to the sword.

Do you call these small advantages, my good friend? but this was not all: the crusades were not the only means which heaven employed to extirpate error, and extend the government of our holy mother the church. Read the history of the last eight centuries-there you will find the many pious stratagems of the Popes, the noble ambition of the bishops, and the holy enthusiasm of the monks-the evangelic docility of the princes, the apostolic zeal of the people, striving to accomplish the destruction of the enemies of faith. You will see them persecuting, plundering, tormenting, breaking on the wheel, beheading and crucifying, burning to death and quartering without pity or mercy, equally regardless of age, sex or condition: eith er with or without form or law.

First, The Ulgarians, in Spain; the Jews in France, Portugal and England; the Vandois at Minerba; the Stadings in Germany; the Ma nichians, in Champain; the Albigense at Montsegur the Bisoques in Bavaria, Bohemia and Austria; the Flagellants in Misnia-the Protestants at Strasbourgh, Volsey, Deventer, and a thousand other places.

You may also read the massacres of Mirandola and Cabriere; of those of Calabria, Vasi, and St. Bartholomew; of that in Ireland, and of many more which I think too tedious to relate. Examine the records of Catholicism, there you will find the execution of John Hus, who was burnt to death in spite of the laws of nations; also the plundering of the whole Hussite infantry, pent up in the barn of Bohmischbroda for

the purpose: there you will read the sentence of upwards of eight thousand people,condemned to the fire by the dominican Torquemada: the massacre of fifteen millions of infidels by the Spaniards in America-the execution of eight hundred English, burnt to death under queen Mary; the extermination of eighteen thousand people under the duke of Alva.

You will learn with as much pleasure, how the zealous of that time persecuted heresy, evenin the tomb of its criminal sectators, disturbing the ashes of kings, staining their memory and filling Europe with tears, horror, and blood, in order to put an effectual stop to reformation.

In a word, gather the facts recorded in history, compute upwards of fifty millions of victims, which the zeal for religion has sacrificed› to this day, and ask no more from whence we derive the authority of making men martyrs for their opinions.

Ah! my dear brother, continued the friar, if your heart is not proof against the benign influence of grace, when you come to consider the glorious tokens of prerogative, granted to us from above, you will at once confess that our religion is the holiest on earth: for you will easily see at the same time, that when the infidels or the heretics have employed the same means, they soon felt the deficiency of that divine assistance, which always attends our ministry; either from a mistaken piety, or a cowardly toleration, founded on frivolous reasonings, they soon abated their zeal, and crushed under their own

efforts, have constantly proved uncontrovertibly, that it is given to the catholics alone to subjugate the world by whatever arms they think fit

to use.

Father, said I to the monk, did not I know that what you have just related happened among men, I should be tempted to believe that you have given me a short sketch of the annals of Hell. Nothing in the world will ever persuade me that such prerogatives can honor religion. Not long since I read of a people who sacrificed two lovely young infants to a filthy he-goatI held in horror the abominable offering. Was it my miserable lot to see a number of heretics sacrificed to the true God, I should hold the oblation in equal execration.

My dear brother, observed the friar, I am sorry to see you so hardened.Adieu, may God at some future period enlighten your poor soul: I wish you a good journey. He had no sooner proffered these last words, than he retired: with his companion. For my part I went to bed in season, in order to set out very early next morning.

I had not slept long when I was awakened by a sudden loud noise. The first objects which offered to my view, were three stout fellows, already in my room: one of them ordered me in a peremptory manner to follow him instantly; in vain did I offer to enquire into the motive of this nocturnal salutation: he vociferated again, in the name of the St. Office, I bid you follow me. I was not tempted to make any further enquiry; I hurried on my clothes; obeyed, and

was conducted to one of the dungeons of the inquisition.

Think of a damp hole, five feet square, of the same heigth, and five fathoms under ground, where it is impossible to distinguish night from day, where all the nourishment you can procure is reduced to a scanty allowance of black musty bread, a few half boilded beans, some stinking water, and no other bed but a few handfuls of rotten straw where for years together you are denied the comfort of exchanging a word with a human being, not having even the privilege of giving too loud a vent to the sorrows to which you are a prey, from the apprehension of a severe whipping. Such was my new habitation. Judge of the reflections which occurred to my mind; especially when my surprise subsided, judge whether I remembered my interview with the Dominicans..

Six weeks of painful confinement elapsed be-fore my gaoler exchanged a word with me.As he delivered me my nauseous pittance, he advised me one day to request an audience of the reverend fathers inquisitors; I followed his advice and the next day was appointed for my appearance before them. When I was presented, one of my judges asked me what I wished for? I supplicated them to set me at liberty, or at least begged they might be indulgent enough to tell me what I was confined for. I received no answer, but was directly remanded back to my loathsome dungeon. Four days after I appeared again on being asked the same ques-. tion, I returned the same answer, and was as