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Article JOHN COUSTOS, FOR FREEMASONRY, ← Page 3 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
John Coustos, For Freemasonry,
I was ordered back by the Inquisitors to my dismal abode , after they had declared to me , that if I turned Roman Catholic it would be of great advantage to my cause , otherways that I perhaps might repent of my obstinacy when it was too late . I replied , in-a respectful manner , that I could not accept of their offers . A few days after , I was again brought before the president of the Holy Officewho said
, , that the Proctor would read , in presence of the Court , the heads of the charge brought against me . The Inquisitors now offered me a counsellor , in case I desired one , to plead my cause . Being sensible that the person they would send me for this purpose was himself an Inquisitor , I chose rather to make my own defence in the best manner I could . I therefore desired that leave might be
granted me to deliver my defence in writing ; but this they refused , saying , that the Holy Office did not allow prisoners the use of pen , ink , and paper . I then begged they would permit me to dictate my justification , in their presence , to any person they should appoint ;
which favour was granted me . The heads of the indictment brought against me were : That I had infringed the Pope ' s orders , by associating in the sect of the Freemasons , they being a horrid compound of sacrilege , sodomy , and many other abominable crimes ; of v / hich . the inviolable secrecy observed therein , and the exclusion of women , were but too manifest indications ; a circumstance that gave the highest offence to , the whole kingdom : and the said Coustos , having
refused to discover to the Inquisitors the true tendency and design of their meetings , and persisting , on the contrary , in asserting , that Freemasonry was good in itself ; wherefore the Proctor of the Inquisition requires , that the said prisoner may be prosecuted . with , the utmost rigour , and for this purpose desires the Court would exert its whole authority , and even proceed . to tortures , to extort from him a confession , viz . :. that the several articles of which he stands accused are true . .- ' ¦ ' . « ¦ _ .
The Inquisitors then gave me the above heads , ordering me to sign them , which I absolutely refused . They then commanded me to be taken ba ' ck to my dungeon , without permitting me a single word in my justification .. I had now but too much leisure to reflect on their menaces , and to cast about for answers to the several articles concerning Masonry , whereof I stood accused ; all of which articles I remembered but too well . Six weeks after I appeared in presence of
two Inquisitors , and the person whom they had appointed to take down my defence ; which was little more than a recapitulation of what I before had asserted with regard to Masonry . " Your prisoner , " said I to them , " is deeply afflicted and touched " to the soul , to find himself accused ( by the ignorance or malice of " his enemies ) in an infernal charge , before the Lords of the Holy
" Office , for having practised the art of Freemasonry , which has been , " and is still , rever'd , not only by a considerable number of persons " of the highest quality in Christendom , but likewise by several sovereign " Princes and crowned heads , who , so far from disdaining to become " members of this Society , submitted , engaged , and obliged them" selves , at their admission , to observe religiously the constitutions
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
John Coustos, For Freemasonry,
I was ordered back by the Inquisitors to my dismal abode , after they had declared to me , that if I turned Roman Catholic it would be of great advantage to my cause , otherways that I perhaps might repent of my obstinacy when it was too late . I replied , in-a respectful manner , that I could not accept of their offers . A few days after , I was again brought before the president of the Holy Officewho said
, , that the Proctor would read , in presence of the Court , the heads of the charge brought against me . The Inquisitors now offered me a counsellor , in case I desired one , to plead my cause . Being sensible that the person they would send me for this purpose was himself an Inquisitor , I chose rather to make my own defence in the best manner I could . I therefore desired that leave might be
granted me to deliver my defence in writing ; but this they refused , saying , that the Holy Office did not allow prisoners the use of pen , ink , and paper . I then begged they would permit me to dictate my justification , in their presence , to any person they should appoint ;
which favour was granted me . The heads of the indictment brought against me were : That I had infringed the Pope ' s orders , by associating in the sect of the Freemasons , they being a horrid compound of sacrilege , sodomy , and many other abominable crimes ; of v / hich . the inviolable secrecy observed therein , and the exclusion of women , were but too manifest indications ; a circumstance that gave the highest offence to , the whole kingdom : and the said Coustos , having
refused to discover to the Inquisitors the true tendency and design of their meetings , and persisting , on the contrary , in asserting , that Freemasonry was good in itself ; wherefore the Proctor of the Inquisition requires , that the said prisoner may be prosecuted . with , the utmost rigour , and for this purpose desires the Court would exert its whole authority , and even proceed . to tortures , to extort from him a confession , viz . :. that the several articles of which he stands accused are true . .- ' ¦ ' . « ¦ _ .
The Inquisitors then gave me the above heads , ordering me to sign them , which I absolutely refused . They then commanded me to be taken ba ' ck to my dungeon , without permitting me a single word in my justification .. I had now but too much leisure to reflect on their menaces , and to cast about for answers to the several articles concerning Masonry , whereof I stood accused ; all of which articles I remembered but too well . Six weeks after I appeared in presence of
two Inquisitors , and the person whom they had appointed to take down my defence ; which was little more than a recapitulation of what I before had asserted with regard to Masonry . " Your prisoner , " said I to them , " is deeply afflicted and touched " to the soul , to find himself accused ( by the ignorance or malice of " his enemies ) in an infernal charge , before the Lords of the Holy
" Office , for having practised the art of Freemasonry , which has been , " and is still , rever'd , not only by a considerable number of persons " of the highest quality in Christendom , but likewise by several sovereign " Princes and crowned heads , who , so far from disdaining to become " members of this Society , submitted , engaged , and obliged them" selves , at their admission , to observe religiously the constitutions