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About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 1900)
m ORCH OP "TRUTH BEARS THE TORCH IN THE SEARCH FOR T R U T H ." _ Z Mcr<,iil< s . VOL. 4. S IL V E R TO N , O R EG O N , T H U R S D A Y , AUGUST 30, E . M. 300 (1900.) NO. 34. W a r! church, who deemed th e very exist* confessions, “ on which confession in my hand, and yet Gregory is in ence of these m en, who refused to m an y of them were put to d e a th .” his m outh!” BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY apostatize, a libel on her. T here I have not room to m ake even Jam es I. confiscated one-tenth of fore, in com pany, actu ally in com ar is th e S ta te sm a n ’s gam e, th e an enum eration of the deeds of re all the land in Irelan d and de P r ie s t’s d elig h t, pany w ith th e law th a t founded ligious persecution d uring this long stroyed thousands of lives for re T he L aw y er’s jest, th e hired the new church, came forth a law and “ to leran t” reign, but I will ligion’s sake. P ro testan t rectors A ssassin ’s tra d e ; kept private prisons for confining A nd to those royal m u rd ere rs, whose to punish beggars, by burning them state a few of them ; all who dissented from th eir faith. m ean thrones 1. It was death to m ake a new in the face with a red-hot iron, and Are bought by crim es of tre a c h e ry and Dr. Leland, a P ro testan t clergy gore— by m aking them slaves for two Catholic priest within the kingdom. m an, wrote th a t the favorite object 2. It was death for a C atholic T he bread they e a t, th e staff on w hich years, with power in th eir m asters th ey lean. priest to come into the kingdom of the English parliam ent was the total exterm ination of all the C ath G u ard s, garb ed in blood-red livery, s u r to m ake them wear an iron col from abroad. round lar. This was to leran t work, to 3. It was death to harbor a Cath olics in Ireland. T h eir Palaces, p a rtic ip a te th e crim es On every w olfs scalp and T h a t force defends, and from a N atio n ’s be sure; and fine proof we have olic priest com ing from abroad. rage 4. It was death to confess to such priest’s head a prem ium of £ 5 was here of this church being “ favor offered! Y oung girls and boys were Secure th e crow n, w hich all th e curses a priest. reach, able to civil and religious lib erty .” 5. It was death for any priest to gathered up bv the thousands and T h a t fam ine, frenzy, woe a n d p enury carried to the West Indies. So by Not content w ith stripping these say mass. b rea th e. I hese are th e hired B ravos who defend faithful C atholic priests of th eir 6. It was death for any one to 1'» was once populous Irelan d so devastated th at an occupied house T he T y ra n t’s th ro n e. livings, not content with tu rn in g hear mass. 7. It was death to deny, or not was- a curiosity and com m ented them out upon the wide world, to swear, , if called .on, th at this on-—There perished in 1641 over .. uauru Protestant Persecutions. hundred thousand lives.— this to leran . t church m ust cause . | woman was the head of the church six [ Selected. them to perish with hunger or be j of Christ. H IS church (the P ro testan t) b randed slaves. | The usual mode of inflicting H eretics and H eresies. began to exist in 1547, and Such was the to leran t spirit of ‘^ ath ^ a s to hang the victim for a in the reign of E dw ard VI. this church when she was young , "I/ ””,!! JUst? ° benum h his or . . . , . , *‘er faculties, then cut down and BY R. G. INGERSOLL. U ntil now the religion of the As to her burnings under C ranm er in stan tly rip open the belly, and co u n try had been for several (w ho made the p rayer book), they ! tear out the heart and hold it up, H E sword of the chuch was years, under the ty ra n t H enry are h ard ly w orthy of p articu lar ! fl’ng the bowels into the fire, then * I ---- ------- j -w .m j- Ut p a i u u u i a i l t u t . , HIP |lrp( m en unsheathed and the world v 111., a sort 01 mongrel; but notice when we have before us the ?h°P off the head and cut the body was at the mercy of ignorant now it became wholly Protest- sweeping cruelties of this first Pro- Muarterf5» then boil the head ------ ” P „» a n t by law ,- The A rticles of Re- testau t reign, d u rin g which, short ’i X / o V o i r 1” " ’8 o them “ anfJ infuriated priests, whose eyes gates places. of cities This or other c o n -/ feasted on the agonies they inflicted igion an d the Common P rayer- as it was, the people of E ngland I spicuous was done ----- ’ Acting book were now draw n up, and were suffered so m uch th a t the suffering including Irelan d , to m any bun- tended as they believed, or pre- to believe, under the com- established by acts of parliam ent, actually thinned their num bers; it <lreiis of Persons, m erely for ad- rnand of God; stim ulated by the The C atholic a lta rs were pulled was a people p artly destroyed and ^ " 5 t0 t iie church in w,’ich they hope of infinite reward in another down in all the churches; th a t, too, in the space of about six w e r e ^ " h u ^ d ie d ’ s n d S ' t v world— haling heretics with every priests, on pain of ouster and line, years; and this is acknowledged ripped up and boiled in E n g k m drop of th eir bestial blood; savage beyond description; merciless be were compelled to teach the new j even in acts of P arliam en t of t h a t | ’n the years from 1577 to 1603, yond co n cep tio n — these infam ous religion, th a t is to say, to be apos- I day. But this law -church was es- th at 18 to 8av’ in the last tw e n ty ’ priests in a kind of frenzied joy, tates; an d the people who had | tablished in reality during th e 8,'X year.S ,°f E,izabeth,R an< leaped upon the helpless victim s of ih have heen sparec their rage. They crushed their been born and bred C atholics were reign of E lizabeth, which lasted if they would have agreed to go to not only punished if they heard I forty-five year», th a t is, from 15581 church and hear the Common hones in iron hoots; tore their q u iv ering flesh with iron hooks and mass, but were also punished if to 1603; and though this church Prayer! All, or nearly all, of them pincers; cut off their lipa and eye they did not go to h ear the new has alw ays kept up its character, were Were, racked before they were put lids; pulled out th eir nails, and parsons, th a t is to say, if they re- even to the p re sin t day, its deeds to death, and the cruelties in into the bleeding quick th ru st fused to become apostates. The! during this long reign are the most prison, and the m anner of execu needles; tore out th eir tongues; tion, were the most horrible th at extinguished their eyes; stretched people, sm arting remarkable ~ i r . 6 under this v o tyr- v ji rem arsaoie. can i.. be conceived. They were flung them upon racks; flayed them alive; an n y , rose in insurrection in sev- Elizabeth established w hat she into dungeon«, kept in their filth, crucified them with their heads eral parts, an d , indeed, all over the called “ a court of high co m m is-ianf! and fed on bullock’s liver, boiled dow nw ard; exposed them to wild country. They com plained th at 18ion,” consisting chiefly of bishops ' unwa9bed tripe and such leasts; burned them a t the stake; they had been robbed of th eir re- of your lordship’s ‘most to leran t ward G e n in g ^ a oHest* d e l e t e / - 1' mocked th eir cries and groans; rav- ligion and of the relief to. the poor church,” in order to punish all who saying mass in H olborn, was, after shed their wives; robbed their children, and then prayed God to which the old ch u rch gave, and did not conform to her religious sentence of d eath , offered his par- Inish the holy work in hell. M ill they dem anded th a t the m ass and creed, she being “ the head of the don. ’f b« would go to church; but ions upon m illions were sacrificed th e m onasteries should be restored, ch u rch .” This commission was i’avlng refused to do this, and hav- upon the a lta rs of bigotry. The and th a t the priests should not be empowered to have control over the ing at the place of executi >n boldly C atholic burned the L u theran , the said th at be would die a thousand allowed to m arry . A nd how were “ opinions” of all men, and to pun- deaths ra th e r than acknowledge L utheran burned Ihe Catholic, the Episcopalian tortured the Presby they answ ered? T he bullet and ish all men according to their “ dis- the queen to he the sp iritu al head terian, the Presbyterian to rtured bayonet a t the h an d s of G erm an cretion, short of d eath .” They had of the church, Topliffe, the atto r- i the Episcopalian. Every den o m in troops slaughtered a p art, caused power to extort evidence by prison ney-gene»ai, ordered the rope to be ation killed all if could of every an o th er p a rt to be im prisoned and or the rack. They had power to cut th e moment the victim was other, and each C hristian felt in turned off, “ so th a t (says this his duty hound to exterm inate every flogged, and the rem ainder to sub- . compel a roan (on oath) to “ reveal torian) the priest, being little or other C hristian who denied the m it, o u tw ardly, a t least, to the Jaw- j his th o u g h ts,” and to “ accuse his nothing • - stunned, stood on his feet sm allest fraction of his creed, church. And now m ark this to l- , friend, brother, parent, wife or or CHr,ting his eyes toward heaven, till . . F or more th an fifty genera- of th e hangm an tripped up his heels tions the church has carried the e ra n t and m erciful church! M any ch ild ,” and this, too, on “ pain i m on the block, where black flag. these years years of the old m onastics and A priests, # d ea th .” These m onsters, in order : and flung “ h "i" 'J" ine. DIOCK’ wn®r ? D‘a.CK Iwg- D n u uring rin g all all these t he was ripped up and q u a rte re d .” of infam y no heretic has ever been who had been expelled from their o discover priests and to crush He was so much alive even after forgiven. W ith th e h e a rt of a fiend convents an d livings, were com the old religion, “ fined, im prisoned, the howeling th a t he cried with a she has hated; with the clutch of pelled to beg their bread about the ra c k e d /' an d did such things as voice, “Oh, it sm arts!” and avarice she has grasped; with the would have made Nero shudder to 1 ,en he e»claim ed, “Sancte Greg- jaws of a dragon she has devoured; country, an d thus found subsist fam ine; ’nerciless as fire; ence am ong the pious Catholics. th in k of. They sent hundreds to rnan ° h a v ^ W T T This was an eyesore to the law- the rack in order to get from them oath, cried, “ Zounds! his heart i s ! is the history of the church of God.