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sitioii tmreproached and unimprovable , and resume again his respectable situation in society . One morning the jailer entered his
room , accompanied by six or seven familiars of the Inquisition . They ordered him to undress , and obliged him to put on garments and stockings of coarse grey cloth , over which they commanded trim to wear an immense
and frightful san benito , * around his neck they put a halter of birch-wood , f a green wax taper in his hand , and thus they required him to proceed to the hall of judgment to h ^ ai his sentence . Alarmed , enraged , maddened
by these degrading ceremonies , he resisted as long as he could , but was obliged to submit to force . When completely exhausted and overpowered , he derived some consolation from the thought that the inquisitors , who alone were to witness Iiis shame , are not allowed to mention the
proceedings v ^ hich place within the wails of their fearful prison-house . He hardly entered the hall when he perceived an immense concourse of spectators , ( many of them of the highest rank *) summoned by the public proclamation , that an auto de / 6 of reconciliation would be openly celebrated .
The sight worked him up to an ungovernable fury ; he uttered a thousand imprecations against the barbarity , the fraud , the malignity of his cruel persecutor * , and in the midst of € i
his despair he cried out , If your religion justify this , I renounce , I abhor it . A religion which thus degrades and dishonours truth and sincerity mqst be false . "
Hie was dragged back to prison . There for thirty hours he refused all nourishment , repeatedly imploring ,
? The san benit © is a yellow scapulaire , worn by tlie victims of the Inquisition . Where the accusation was trifling * it was unadorned , for higher crimes it had a scarlet cross , and for the most capital it was decorated wUb representations of the flumes of liell aud grotesque figures of devils . There were other varieties , but fcjbe afy . ove were the grand distinctions .
+ The worst criminals were formerly £ i ; agjged to the place of execution by halters of birch-wood , ( this being conjsidered viler than hempen coi ; ds , ) and they were afterwards used by the Inquisition as marks of the most infamous d * gT $ d »» tioii *
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demanding to be sent to the stake , and declaring that he would be his own executioner if his prayer were not granted . Notwithstanding every precaution he hung himself on the fifth day , after writing the following prayer : — " O God \ Author of our
nature ! Being of perfect purity ! who lovest sincerity of soul , receive my spirit that seeks to unite itself to thy divinity , from whence it spran g * . To thee , before thou hast required it , to thee I commit it ; thus to escape from the abodes of those ferocious beasts
that have usurped the name of man . Receive it in thy mercy ; thou knowest its intentions were , pure . Crush that dreadful monster , the tribunal , which dishonours humanity \ and while thou permitted it , dishonours thee . "
I told the inquisitors ( says the historian , who witnessed the facts recorded ) that they must anticipate a fearful reckoning » when they should stand before a higher and more rnerciful tribunal .
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» e - 92 The Nmcoftformist . No > VII .
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The Nonconformist . No . VII . An Inquiry into the Principles and Conduct of the Baptists respecting Civil and Religions Liberty ,
PE RHAPS no sect of Christians has been held in greater contempt , or treated with less courtesy than that of the Baptists ^ The name , indeed , which is generally applied to
them , is intended by many to convey reproach or contempt , and even by some , from whose politeness and Christian candour , a different procedure might reasonably be
expected-Without at all entering upon the question , whether they are exclusively right in their views on the subject of baptism , it may be worth while to iaquire how far either the
principles or the conduct of the Baptists , may have entitled them to the unfavourable opinion , which the greater part of the Christian world has so long joined in entertaining of them .
Among the most important and distinguished tenets taught by Wickliffe , was this , " That no rule or ceremony ought to he received in ifait Church , which is not plainly confirmed by the word of God . ] Bishop Bwriiet observe * , it was the purmu « g
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1819, page 92, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1769/page/24/
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