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nite mercy; extolled the charity of the St. Of fice, which did not wish for the death of the sinner, but the salvation of his soul. The speech, or promises and threatenings which followed, did not shake her resolution; she did not comply with the confession demanded of her, but when the inquisitor had done talking, she said in a voice capable of moving the most flinty heart,-Alas! fathers, have you renounced all humanity; do you see with indifference the spent victim without motion. Ah! consider my dislocated members, that tender body bruised and lacerated; and have mercy on a poor wretch lying at your feet, and overwhelmed with horror and despair. Have pity on my sex, my youth and my misfortunes! No, barbarians! cried she soon after, your hearts are strangers to sensibility; I see in your eyes the ferocity of the lion and the angry tiger., Abominable monsters, here I am, seize on my limbs, enjoy the cruel pleasure of tearing them; quench your thirst with my blood, and satiate your execrable rage. Iyet live. And you! O deplo rable victims who groan in the horrid dungeons dug on this spot, may my torments alleviate your miserable fate,and guard you against the bitter cup prepared for your palates. May my death be the last crime of my persecutors.She would have continued, but she was again seized, and they poured down her throat several quarts of very cold water; she was then laid in a trough, where she was squeezed so severely that she fell into another swoon.

When she recovered her senses she was assailed with the same words in vain; she was next ordered near a large fire, and her feet having been rubbed with oil, or other penetrating matter, they were warmed so cruelly as to raise blisters, and I discovered in a little while the sinews and bones. These horrid pains could not draw even a complaint from her.

Her

courage and resignation braved the cruelty of the inquisitors, and fatigued the ministers of their rage. Her strength having for a third time forsaken her, she was at length carried away --and I have since learnt, that three days after she was dragged in a dung cart to a public place, where loaded with the imprecations of the judges, and the execration of an immense concourse of people, she was burnt to death, in order to teach the universe, that if all the moral virtues are sufficient to obtain us the toleration, esteem and honor of the most barbarous nations, they are looked upon as crimes by a nation who glories in the profession of a religion established by a Man-god, who preached nothing but meekness and charity, and who died on a cross, having in his power, with one single breath, to destroy his enemies.

I was no sooner alone than I exclaimed, Oh! the abominable inquisitors, what I had heard of their cruelties was but a faint picture of what I have seen. I always thought before, that with prudence a man could live safe, in the middle of a society, however depraved, but experience shows the contrary. When I remember the horrid sacrifice of the two lovely infants offered

to a filthy he-goat, I find it was only the effect of a misunderstood piety, and owing to the super stition of a people blinded by the grossest ignorance, but what I have just now seen, has no other motive but the most diabolical madness, no object but the glutting of an execrable and bloody vengeance. How can the ministers of the God of truth, not satisfied with leading the ignorant into error, not contented with the ill effects of their private quarrels, and with that hatred which they vow against the man who presumes to think differently from themselves, erect tribunals, where without reason, humanity or mercy, they boldly judge all those whose downfall they have sworn and how can they be audacious enough, when descending from such a tribunal, to ascend the threshold of the altar, and lift up to heaven their bloody hands? Great God, if thou hast unforeseen designs in permitting so much guilt, screen me, I humbly beseech thee, from falling a sacrifice to it.

These reflections over, I climbed up the chimney again. The darkness of the night was favorable to my intentions: I sallied from one of the windows of the granary, and wandered over the roofs of several houses, not daring to venture into any, and fearing, if discovered to be betrayed ;-for the inquisition is so cruel, that was a Spaniard suspected of having favored the escape of a single prisoner, his charity would cost him his life. I ventured notwithstanding through a house, resolved to knock down with my fuke whoever should dare to oppose me. Before I had gone down a pair of stairs, a ser

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vant girl espied me, and was so frightened at my aspect that she took me for the devil. My beard was then very long, I had on a long black robe, my face was emaciated, and my eyes. sparkling with rage and despair, the girl screamed so loud that the master of the house ran up. He was not less frightened than her when he discovered me; but I begged him to fear noth ing; and on closer inspection found him to be a French doctor, who had once cured me of a severe fit of sickness. The honest fellow shook my hand cordially, whilst the tear of sympathy trickled down his cheek. He conducted me to his closet, where I gave him a short narrative of what had happened to me. He blamed me for my want of prudence in disclosing my sentiments to the friars; advised me to beware of priests of any denomination; and having furnished me with a disguise, he presented me with fifty dollars, desiring me to write to him as soon as I should be out of the reach of the inqui-: sition. I set sail next morning for England, resolved never more to set foot on the inhospitable shores of Spain.

An Address from a Friend to Christianity, te bis Brethren.'

BRETHREN,

ACTUATED by a fervent desire for your present and eternal welfare, à friend to the relig

ion you profess, begs your attention whilst he lays before you some observations for your se rious consideration.

Although reason is justly called the great distinguishing faculty of man, who is there that is not convinced of its insufficiency to insure happiness, by restraining the passions and reducing to order the evil propensities of our nature? Something more than mere reason seems necessary to promote the happiness of man, even in this life, and the Supreme Governor of the Universe has placed within our reach a complete remedy for this defect of our fallen nature, by offering up his holy begotten Son as a ransom for us. This divine Saviour hath by example, as well as precept, left for our instruction a system of Religion which may secure to us not only happiness in this world, but also the pos session of eternal felicity in another. As this great truth meets with universal acknowledgment throughout the christian world, how comes it, that instead of " Peace on earth and good will to men," which was the triumphant song of angels, the history of Christendom is blackened by a long catalogue of persecutions, crimes,and murders, committed in the name of the divine author of our religion? The answer is easy;christianity was promulgated at a time when the great ones of the earth had by fraud, or force established themselves in power, and trampled with impunity on the rights of their fellow men, who, sunk by the hard gripe of oppression, to the state of beasts of burthen, were not sensible of their inherent privileges, or, if known, they

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